Abstract

Africa in the View of the Academic World of the GDR: An Overview of the History of African Ethnography. Ethnography – also referred to as ethnology by the GDR – was a “minor subject” in which typical big science problems such as mass-study and large-scale research played no role. It was therefore not the focus of science policy interventions by the state and/or its ruling party. Nevertheless, ethnographic research, exemplified by the sub-discipline related to Africa, remained within the limits set by the state and ruling party. Despite of these relative restrictions, the two East German universities in Berlin and Leipzig, as well as the ethnological museums in Leipzig and Dresden, have succeeded in presenting research results that are relevant and remain valid to the present day.