Kimberly Merkley and Dr. Cindy Brewer, Department of German and Slavic Languages
Along with my mentor, Cindy Brewer, my goal for my ORCA project was to research and write an introduction to a 30 page book, titled Die Schwarze Johanna, by a female German missionary in Namibia in the early 20th century. The text, as of now, has no digital copy and has only been printed in the original Gothic text in the German language. In my project proposal, I also outlined plans of submitting both my introduction and the transcribed version of the text itself to the Sophie Project, an online database which seeks to publish little-known works of German women authors.
In part with the money I received from the ORCA grant, I was able to spend two wonderful months in the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. While there completing an internship and taking German classes, I gained a greater appreciation of the German language, culture and history. I learned to love the German people and their language. My experiences there helped me with my research for my ORCA project. I had many opportunities there to find help with questions I had about the best places to find information on Hedwig Irle, the female missionary, and was able to be assisted in any translation help that was needed.
My project is not yet complete, but is well on its way. My overall goal while writing the introduction to the text is to chronicle how Irle’s feelings towards the Africans she lived with and taught differed from other German colonists. My research included delving into Irle’s background to get a sense of who she was. I tried to discover what her personal goals and reasons were for leaving Germany to venture to Namibia. I also researched her feelings towards the Herero genocide, which was the first genocide in the 20th century and was committed by the German government against the Herero tribe. Irle strongly disagreed with the German government’s actions towards the tribe, and her feelings on that issue are perhaps the area where she most sharply moves away from the stance of the rest of her countrymen. To put her situation in a better perspective, I have also done extensive research on the history of German colonialism in Deutsch Südwest, present-day Namibia. This research has allowed me to put both the text of Die Schwarze Johanna and Irle’s life in a historical context. Because of my interest in history, I was enrolled in a history of modern Africa class this past fall, which, in addition to my exposure to the German language this past summer, has aided me the most in researching and writing the introduction.
I have already completed a rough draft to the introduction and will soon meet with my mentor to edit and finalize it. I have not yet transcribed Die Schwarze Johanna, but anticipate completing that aspect in the near future. I have contacted the Sophie Project and have been working with one of their coordinators to follow the protocol to get it published. After my introduction has been approved by Dr. Brewer, I will submit both it and the transcribed copy of Die Schwarze Johanna to the Sophie Project and from there will be able to get it published.