Florian Wagner

Wissenschaftlicher Werdegang
Stipendien und Auszeichnungen
Promotionsprojekt
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Lehrverzeichnis

While colonial studies have developed into a vibrant field of historiography, the international cooperation among colonial experts has long been neglected. Between 1890 and 1914, colonial cooperation reached its climax and materialized in the creation of the International Colonial Institute (1893), whose membership amounted to 200 by 1914. The non-governmental Institute was the most important international and colonial institution prior to the First World War and developed into a hub of exchange between colonial experts, who contributed in a significant way to making colonial domination more efficient and establishing a form of best practice of colonial rule. Taking the International Colonial Institute as a starting point, my dissertation unveils the international dimension of colonialism, which remains understudied down to the present day. Based on research in seven countries and sources in just as many languages, I investigate a broad range of colonial “methods” that international experts designed, tested and applied in the colonies. Their fields of interest ranged from tropical hygiene, the training of professional administrators and colonial agronomy to colonial law and methods to stimulate economic development. The main argument of the thesis is that international transfers among colonial experts brought about a “modern” version of reformed colonialism that was based on cooperation with the “native” peoples. Far from granting the colonized a say, however, the colonizers tried to profit from their collaboration without treating them on equal terms.