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A review by aishaayoosh
Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
5.0
Until recently, most conversations about the European colonial presence in Africa have excluded Germany.
Established in the late 19th century, the German empire on the continent included colonies in present-day Namibia, Cameroon, Togo, parts of Tanzania and Kenya, and eventually claimed the kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi.
German colonial rule was brutal, as colonial enterprises were; in an arena known for its oppression and violence, it is Germany that perpetrated the first genocide of the 20th century in the 1904 extermination campaign to quell the Herero and Nama uprising in Namibia.
Across the continent in East Africa, or Deutsch-Ostafrika, Germany’s military tactics were equally deadly.
Abdulrazak Gurnah’s sprawling yet intimate novel Afterlives is set against the backdrop of these atrocities. Unfolding in what was then Tanganyika, now mainland Tanzania.
Established in the late 19th century, the German empire on the continent included colonies in present-day Namibia, Cameroon, Togo, parts of Tanzania and Kenya, and eventually claimed the kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi.
German colonial rule was brutal, as colonial enterprises were; in an arena known for its oppression and violence, it is Germany that perpetrated the first genocide of the 20th century in the 1904 extermination campaign to quell the Herero and Nama uprising in Namibia.
Across the continent in East Africa, or Deutsch-Ostafrika, Germany’s military tactics were equally deadly.
Abdulrazak Gurnah’s sprawling yet intimate novel Afterlives is set against the backdrop of these atrocities. Unfolding in what was then Tanganyika, now mainland Tanzania.