Luca Rachel Hristov

Language and school policy in Oceania during colonialism 1884-1919. An interdisciplinary study
The historical investigation of the intentions, regulations and fields of action of the language and school policy of the colonial officials and German missionary societies in Oceania during the colonial period 1884-1919 defines the research interest of the project. The colonies of the German Empire were not only ≫acquired≪ for economic exploitation and territorial expansion, but also functioned as ideal prestige objects. The effects of this can be found in the diverse, albeit ambivalent and restricted efforts to curb the linguistic diversity that was viewed as unfavorable and to establish German as the school and common language in the colonies. In addition to the historical analysis, the language attitudes underlying these measures are examined using discourse linguistics. The central question is which language attitudes and ideologies, and the colonial discourses linked to them, formed the basis of the discussion about the language question and to what extent these correlated with the language and school policy goals, regulations and implementation. Language is viewed as an identity-forming and political instrument of cultural domination practice in which paradigms and discourses are reflected. The project thus sees itself as an interdisciplinary, micro-perspective study of colonial expansion and conquest, which on the one hand was intended to ≫civilize≪ and ≫convert≪, but on the other hand wanted to preserve the borders between Europeans and the indigenous population.