Michael Rösser's dissertation shortlisted for Hedwig Hintze Prize

The work, which has already been awarded an ‘honorary distinction’ by the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH), has been published by de Gruyter. In his book, which appeared as part of the series ‘Work in Global and Historical Perspective’ (21), Rösser analyses work and labour relations using three case studies in colonial German East Africa: the construction of the Central Railway (1905–1916), the Otto plantation in Kilossa (1907–1916) and the Tendaguru palaeontological expedition (1909–1911). His focus is on previously neglected actors and groups of actors in the colonial context of East Africa: these were primarily German companies and their employees, white subaltern railway subcontractors and labour brokers, Indian skilled workers and (qualified) East African workers. These places of work also had their own unique logic and characteristics, as they all existed in a state of tension between the ‘global’ and the ‘local,’ between coercion and voluntariness, between machine and manual labour, between skilled and unskilled labour, between reproductive and wage labour, and between black and white.

The Hedwig Hintze Prize is traditionally awarded during the Historians' Day at the VHD's ceremony. The event will take place on Thursday, 18 September 2025, at 7 p.m.