Metaphor, Nation and Discourse by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Published: 2019-05-02T10:59:45+00:00

3.2.2Metaphors of flowing in German colonialist discourse after 1871

As with metaphors of cultivation, the conceptualization of human migration as a flowing liquid, human mass movement is flowing liquid, derives from early Bible translations. Metaphors of flowing are, however, less common in the German colonialist discourse of the nineteenth century than those invoking cultivation and generally stem from the notion that colonization is necessary due to the lack of living space in an “overflowing” Germany.

Conceptualizations of migrant peoples as flowing liquids and floods have taken on negative connotations in post-colonial anti-immigration discourse.11 They belong to a group of long-term mental representations of a supposed threat to the social stability of the modern world (Semino 2008: 87f.). In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German colonialist discourse, however, a flowing of people was often portrayed as a good thing, particularly since only the point of view of the colonizers was presented. The positive image of water bringing life and renewal helped legitimize colonial activity. Migration into a “daughter” State could also act as a source of water, a spring, to refresh the national sentiment of a “parent” State (“eine Quelle, aus der das Staatsgefühl Erfrischung schöpft”), and rejuvenate society both at home and abroad through its heilsame Abfluß ‘healing outflow’ (Ratzel 1879: 346).

Friedrich Fabri (1824–1891) was a contemporary of Wilhelm von Hübbe-Schleiden and co-founder of the Deutscher Kolonialverein ‘German Colonial Association’. His political treatise, Bedarf Deutschland der Colonien? ‘Does Germany need Colonies?’ was published in the same year as Ratzel’s Politische Geographie. For Fabri, colonization was a positive natural process, a law of nature, Gesetz der Expansion und Repulsion ‘law of expansion and repulsion’ (Fabri 1879: 13). He conceptualized colonization as a two-way flow: an outpouring and an influx of energy (Kräfte-Abfluß; Kräfte-Zufluß) between colonies and their motherlands (Fabri 1879). Friedrich Ratzel also metaphorized human migration as moving liquid. He conceptualized nations as seas (Völkermeer) or landmasses within seas (Völkerinsel) (Ratzel 1897: 3). It is as though a nation were moving backward and forward like a slowly flowing mass (“das Volk wie eine langsam flüssige Masse sich vor- oder rückwärts bewege”) (Ratzel 1897: 84). A lack of sufficient living-space in the motherland can cause “overflowing” of people (Überfließen, Ratzel 1897: 395; Bevölkerungsüberfluß, 1897: 132; Menschenüberfluß, 1897: 119). Ratzel further refers to Überschwemmungen ‘inundations’ (1897: 118) in the context of forceful colonization or conquest (Eroberung). Native Africans are portrayed as having more land than they can exploit efficiently, a superfluity of land ( Bodenüberfluß, Ratzel 1897: 58; Landüberfluß, 1897: 135) which leads to its devaluation. Ratzel metaphorizes forceful colonization as storms and deluges of people (Fluten, Völkerstürme) (Ratzel 1897: 89). Colonization is particularly successful if the invaded area is thinly populated and cannot withstand incursion from a densely populated land: “Die volkreichen Länder lassen ihren Überfluß nach den dünnbewohnten Nachbargebieten abfließen (…)” (Densely populated lands let their surplus flow into thinly populated neighbouring lands …) (Ratzel 1897: 90).

Metaphors of cultivation and of flowing can, of course, be combined with one another and, singly or together, with other metaphors associated with colonialist activity, such as the foundation of “daughter states” following the blossoming of the “parent” region.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.