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Race, Empire and Inherited Histories: Readings of Kafka, Schnitzler and Heyse

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Race, Empire and Inherited Histories: Readings of Kafka, Schnitzler and Heyse Race, Empire and Inherited Histories: Readings of Kafka, Schnitzler and Heyse by Vasuki Shanmuganathan A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures and Women & Gender Studies Institute University of Toronto © Copyright by Vasuki Shanmuganathan 2016 Race, Empire and Inherited Histories: Readings of Kafka, Schnitzler and Heyse Vasuki Shanmuganathan Doctor of Philosophy in German Literature, Culture and Theory Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures and Women & Gender Studies Institute University of Toronto 2016 Abstract My dissertation examines the discourses of empire during the shift from aesthetic to biopolitical ways of reading race, which influenced nineteenth and twentieth century German language writings. Seemingly disparate novellas from Paul Heyse and Arthur Schnitzler and a short story from Franz Kafka serve to illustrate how race was locally defined through the narrative of inherited histories in the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. “Inherited histories” is a term which privileges heredity, race and kinship networks as sites to study empire during a period when national and linguistic terms of defining bodies were different. In collocation, the first historical exploration of German and Austrian family business networks in colonial Ceylon and an autobiography from John George Hagenbeck show how views on race were globally ordered through colonialism but also blurred in order to accommodate trade. Additional materials such as postcards, photographs and stagings of ethnographic exhibits further inform the unstable constructions of race in the through kinship networks and heredity. There are three key contributions this dissertation makes to race, sexuality and colonial studies. The first section shows how the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire did not require formal colonies, ii comparable to the British or French regimes, to own businesses in colonial Ceylon. Transimperial family business connections were preferred for sharing resources, infrastructure, and labour as Ceylonese-German impresario Hagenbeck recounts in his writings. When he assembled, managed and travelled with his South Asian ethnographic exhibitions to various European cities, Hagenbeck took great care to play the role of white German citizen, hiding his racialized identity and revealing how race defined global mobility. The second section discusses what kinds of racial and sexual anxieties began to surface as ethnographic exhibitions moved through the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. The presence of a racialized child in Vienna provokes fears about European and African sexuality whereas the plight of an unwed mother and son residing in Munich uncovers black family genealogies in European cities going back to the global slave trade. Comparing literary texts in both empires exposes contradictions in racial discourse and a need for nuance readings of racial vocabulary and transnational history. The third section demonstrates how the German Empire utilized alcohol, a lucrative consumer commodity, as a way to influence the behavior of labourers at home and in the colonies. Returning to the site of Hagenbeck’s South Asian ethnographic exhibitions illustrates how performers, made drunk and put on exhibit, shaped perceptions of racialized people. iii Acknowledgments I am greatly indebted to many people who have helped me through the process of completing my doctoral degree. Firstly, I wish to thank Willi Goetschel who served as my doctoral supervisor. I could not have asked for a better teacher and leave with an immense respect and gratitude to have had the opportunity to learn from him how to be an astute commentator and scholar of cultural theory, colonial studies and literature. I would also like to extend this appreciation to John K. Noyes who took the time to offer insightful comments on many of my research projects as well as several drafts of this dissertation. Ashwini Tambe’s valuable input led me to make better interdisciplinary links between Europe and Colonial South Asia and courageously envision my project beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries. External examiner Sara Lennox, along with Angelica Fenner, who joined the committee at a later stage, were both instrumental in helping me clarify my discussions of visual culture and map the next steps of my research past the degree stage. M. Jacqui Alexander and Lora Wildenthal posed excellent questions about racial politics and law in the German colonies during presentations, which led me to revise some of my initial observations. I wish to thank SSHRC for their generous financial support with a Canada Graduate Scholarship. OGS, JIGES and numerous University of Toronto awards allowed me to undertake research trips to Germany. The librarians at the Hagenbeck Archiv (Hamburg), Bundesarchiv, Ethnologisches Museum and Staatsbibliothek (Berlin) provided invaluable research assistance. Lisa Fannin and Pat Singh at the School of Graduate Studies, Helena Juenger and Monika Lang at the German Department, and Marian Reed at the Women & Gender Studies Institute went out of their way to help during the final stages of the dissertation with many administrative matters. Their incredible patience and efficiency is much appreciated. Barbara J. Todd and Andrew Hughes who were my mentors during undergraduate and without whom I would not have imagined graduate studies as a possibility. There are too many friends to acknowledge here for their support over the years and better thanked in person. A few who are directly tied to this dissertation: Yasmin Aly, Christin Bohnke, Angela K. Britto, Fathima Cader, Irene Loughlin, Farrah Miranda, Akshaya Tanka, and Nishant Upadhyay. Your feedback and discussions of my chapters helped me tremendously. As with any endeavour, having the support of family has proven vital. Thank you for the warm meals and immeasurable kindness always waiting for me at home. A special thank you to my parents who saved my life during a brutal civil war. I cannot repay you with much but hope to write some of the histories you search for in exile. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv INTRODUCTION: INHERITED HISTORIES vi PART I: EXPANDING COLONIAL STUDIES Ethnographic Exhibits and German & Austrian Family Business 1. Networks in colonial Ceylon 1 Racial Authenticity, Family Secrets and Germanness in 2. John G. Hagenbeck’s Mit Indiens fahrendem Volk (1932) 29 PART II: REPRODUCING RACE Fathering Race, Sexuality and Children in 3. Arthur Schnitzler’s Andreas Thameyers Letzter Brief (1900) 41 Reproduction, Black Genealogies and Mothers in 4. Paul Heyse’s Urica (1852) and Medea (1898) 77 PART III: LABOURING BODIES Ethnographic Exhibitions, Commodified Bodies and Schnapps in 5. Franz Kafka’s Ein Bericht für eine Akademie (1917) 99 CONCLUSION 119 BIBLIOGRAPHY 124 v Inherited Histories Sometime in 2019, Berlin is set to celebrate one of its largest cultural endeavors in recent memory – the restoration of the Berlin Palace and its Humboldt Forum. This enormous space will house a group of museums, an existing university, a library and several other arts and science related spaces. A nearly two decade long development project initiated in the Bundestag which is ambitious in its scope and seeks to bring back the intellectual and cultural energy once animating much of old Prussia and later the German Empire. Inspired by the Prussian collector, scholar and explorer brother duo Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, Germany wants a return to its former image as a cosmopolitan city “von internationalem Rang gerade im 1 kulturellen Bereich weltweite Strahlkraft besitzt” as advertised on their website. The current president of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz and project lead Hermann Parzinger states, “Im künftigen Humboldt-Forum erhalten die Künste und Kulturen Asiens, Afrikas, Amerikas, Australiens und Ozeaniens eine neue Heimat in direkter Nachbarschaft zur Museumsinsel. Sie kehren in die Mitte Berlins zurück, wo mit der ehemaligen Kunstkammer im Schloss auch ihre Ursprünge liegen. Von der Mitte Berlins aus richteten die kulturellen Einrichtungen ihr Interesse und die wissenschaftliche Neugier auf die gesamte Welt.”2 It is clear the Humboldt-Forum is meant to attract an international audience of tourists, scholars and students in its claim to show us the world (again). My dissertation attempts a response to this problematic construct of “shared heritage” by proposing to look at how “inherited histories” of various historical actors on all sides come to inform such public debates today. In speaking about inherited histories, I privilege kinship networks, family businesses, race, properties and discussions about heredity to show how the current controversy in Berlin can be understood, worked through, and unpacked with historical context. The questions I seek to answer are: How were racialized bodies read in the previous 1 Hermann Parzinger, “Statement des Präsidenten,” Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, accessed May 20, 2015, http://www.preussischer- kulturbesitz.de/humboldt-forum/statement-des-praesidenten.html. 2 Ibid. vi century? Where did they come from and how did they end up in the German or Austro- Hungarian Empires? What tools are necessary to understand the ways in which race was read then? While I focus predominantly on producing readings of German language texts such as an autobiography, poetry, a short story and two novellas, I will also draw on relevant historical materials
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