The Herero genocide of 1904: Source-critical and methodological considerations

Abstract

The Herero-German War of 1904 has been downplayed as a “normal colonial war” by some, and emphasised as a genocide by others. While the first position is untenable, the second is reconsidered in this article through a re-evaluation of the sources and their treatment by academic historians over the last forty years. It is argued that a more rigorous, reflected and nuanced source-critique would complement the current historiography of the topic, which suffers from a questionable selection, evaluation and interpretation of textual sources.