In this rich and multi-layered deconstruction of German colonial engagement with Islam, Jörg Haustein shows how imperial agents in Germany's largest colony wielded the knowledge category of Islam in a broad set of debates, ranging from race, language, and education to slavery, law, conflict, and war. These representations of 'Mohammedanism', often invoked for particular political ends, amounted to a serious misreading of Muslims in East Africa, with significant long-term effects. As the first in-depth account of the politics of Islam in German East Africa, the book makes an essential contribution to the history of religion in Tanzania before British rule. It also offers a template for re-reading the colonial archive in a manner that recovers Muslim agency beyond a European paradigm of religion.

Jörg Haustein is Associate Professor of World Christianity at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge. Previously, he has taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He is a scholar of religion in Africa from the nineteenth century onward, specializing in Pentecostal Christianity, colonial Islam, and the intersection of religion and development.

Autorentext

Jörg Haustein is Associate Professor of World Christianity at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge. Previously, he has taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He is a scholar of religion in Africa from the nineteenth century onward, specializing in Pentecostal Christianity, colonial Islam, and the intersection of religion and development.