An Animal-Centered Perspective on Colonial Oppression

Animal Representations and the Narrating Ox in Uwe Timm’s Morenga (1978)

verfasst von

Steffen Röhrs

Abstract

As a result of its topic and its narrative style, Uwe Timm’s novel Morenga (1978) marks an important step in the development of postcolonial German literature. The main theme of the book is the bloody suppression of the Herero and Nama uprisings through the German army in South-West Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. With recourse to historical and fictional documents and by
using different narrative perspectives, the text achieves a plurality of voices and thereby destabilizes a one-dimensional view on colonialism. The present article discusses the functions of the nonhuman animals appearing in Morenga. It is assumed that the animal representations are an essential part of the plot and underscore the criticism of colonial rule in a narrative manner too. The novel contains several descriptions of suffering animals and links them to the harm of the Herero and the Nama in order to point out the ruthlessness of the colonists. Moreover, the book features a story-telling ox, which initiates a reflection process about possible ways of narrating colonial history. The talking ox adds a specific animal-centered perspective on colonial oppression and raises questions about
emancipation, self-determination, and the agency of the nonhuman ‘other’.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Deutsches Seminar

Typ

Beitrag in Buch/Sammelwerk

Seiten

307-319

Anzahl der Seiten

13

Publikationsdatum

2020

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja