Henning Melber – författare

This book explores class formation and political consciousness in contemporary Africa. It challenges prevailing narratives by examining the nuanced emergence of middle-class identities across Africa since the early 2000s.

Initially viewed through a narrow economic lens focused on income thresholds, the concept of an "African middle class" has evolved into a rich field of inquiry. This collection moves past superficial analyses to explore the lived experiences, political orientations, and social consciousness of these diverse groups. Through meticulously researched case studies spanning multiple countries, contributors from sociology, anthropology, and political science reveal the fragile and contradictory nature of middle-class formation in Africa. The volume interrogates how factors beyond economic criteria—including education, consumption patterns, cultural capital, and political engagement—shape class identity and social movements.

This essential text demystifies uncritical notions of "African middle classness" while providing empirical depth to our understanding of how these emerging social segments navigate complex sociopolitical landscapes. Scholars and students of development studies, African Studies, and class analysis will find this collection indispensable for understanding the intersection of class formation and political consciousness in contemporary Africa.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Contemporary African Studies.

From 1884 to 1914, the world''s fourth-largest overseas colonial empire was that of the German Kaiserreich. Yet this fact is little known in Germany and the subject remains virtually absent from most school textbooks. While debates are now common in France and Britain over the impact of empire on former colonies and colonising societies, German imperialism has only more recently become a topic of wider public interest. In 2015, the German government belatedly and half-heartedly conceded that the extermination policies carried out over 1904-8 in the settler colony of German South West Africa (now Namibia) qualify as genocide. But the recent invigoration of debate on Germany''s colonial past has been hindered by continued amnesia, denialism and a populist right endorsing colonial revisionism. A campaign against postcolonial studies has sought to denounce and ostracise any serious engagement with the crimes of the imperial age. Henning Melber presents an overview of German colonial rule and analyses how its legacy has affected and been debated in German society, politics and the media. He also discusses the quotidian experiences of Afro-Germans, the restitution of colonial loot, and how the history of colonialism affects important institutions such as the Humboldt Forum.