Stereotype, Ambivalence, and Mimicry in Uwe Timm's Morenga (1978)

摘要

Cultural encounters between the West and the Rest during colonialism are often based on unequal relations. Many of these encounters are revealed in literary works, one of which is Morenga by Uwe Timm (1978). The novel, which revolved around the German colonial period in Deutsch-Sudwest Afrika, became one of the essential novels in Germany after World War II. This paper discussed how the colonial encounter between Germans and the Nama tribes in Deutsch-Sudwest Afrika was colored by the efforts of both parties to survive in it. This research focused on the problem of colonial encounters by employing a qualitative approach, while the text analysis technique employed close reading. From the analysis conducted, it is identified that stereotypes, ambivalence, and mimicry were the strategies carried out by both parties in the encounter. These strategies appeared not only one-way but rather two-way, which was either realized or had not happened to influence each other between the Germans and the Nama tribe.