Skilled labour in colonial economies. Recruitment, education and employment in construction companies in German colonial West Africa, c. 1902–1912

IF 0.7 4区管理学 Q1 HISTORY

Labor History Pub Date : 2022-09-03 DOI:10.1080/0023656X.2022.2133100

Nina Kleinöder

引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article offers new insights into the business-historical perspective of German colonial railway construction in West Africa. Two archival case studies of German colonial railroad construction in Cameroon and Togo reveal the relationship and character of training and work in specific colonial contexts at the turn of the century. The case studies demonstrate that skills on construction sites went beyond mere questions of unskilled manual work or education. This article argues that, from a business-historical perspective, not only was the general (mass) availability of unskilled labour power crucial to infrastructural projects in the former German colonies, but also that was a substantial element of skill involved, ranging from literacy to the (technical) pre- and initial training of workers and craftsmen. Moreover, firms struggled to retain (semi-)skilled workers on construction sites for longer periods.

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殖民地经济中的熟练劳动力。德国殖民地西非建筑公司的招聘、教育和就业，约1902-1912年

摘要本文对德国殖民地在西非修建铁路的商业历史视角提供了新的见解。关于德国在喀麦隆和多哥的殖民铁路建设的两个档案案例研究揭示了世纪之交在特定殖民背景下训练和工作的关系和特点。案例研究表明，建筑工地上的技能不仅仅是非熟练的体力劳动或教育问题。本文认为，从商业历史的角度来看，非熟练劳动力的普遍（大规模）可用性不仅对前德国殖民地的基础设施项目至关重要，而且这也是所涉及的技能的一个重要因素，从识字到工人和工匠的（技术）前期和初期培训。此外，公司很难在建筑工地上长期留住（半）熟练工人。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Labor History Multiple-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

28.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： Labor History is the pre-eminent journal for historical scholarship on labor. It is thoroughly ecumenical in its approach and showcases the work of labor historians, industrial relations scholars, labor economists, political scientists, sociologists, social movement theorists, business scholars and all others who write about labor issues. Labor History is also committed to geographical and chronological breadth. It publishes work on labor in the US and all other areas of the world. It is concerned with questions of labor in every time period, from the eighteenth century to contemporary events. Labor History provides a forum for all labor scholars, thus helping to bind together a large but fragmented area of study. By embracing all disciplines, time frames and locales, Labor History is the flagship journal of the entire field. All research articles published in the journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.