Norman Aselmeyer

Historian • University of Oxford

I’m a historian of European colonialism and modern Africa.

My research centres on urban and social history, with a focus on the history of infrastructure and popular unrest. A recurring theme in my work is how colonial societies functioned, especially how ordinary people experienced colonialism and how they navigated, shaped, evaded and contested colonial rule in everyday life. I also explore the politics of memory, examining how the colonial past is remembered in both Africa and Europe. More recently, my interests have expanded to include the lives and experiences of Black people in Germany, particularly those who migrated from the (former) colonies. My primary regional focus is East Africa, especially Kenya, though my work spans the broader histories of both the German and British Empires. » more

New:

  • New Review: An Activist History of the Maasai

    Saitabau Lulunken and I reviewed Meitamei Olol Dapash and Mary Poole’s Decolonizing Maasai History: A Path to Indigenous African Futures (Zed Books, 2025). The review was recently published in the Journal of African History.

    “In his 1970 article ‘Historians and East Africa,’ Kenyan historian Bethwell Ogot observed that early East African historiography was predominantly shaped by amateur historians whose contributions produced, to put it charitably, decidedly mixed results. This tradition of lay historical writing persists in East Africa today, as exemplified by Decolonizing Maasai History. …”

    Read the full review here: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853726100802.

  • New article out in German History

    In this article, Nina Kleinöder (University of Bamberg) and I propose approaching colonial railways in the German Empire through the lens of everyday history. Building on Florence Bernault’s concept of “colonial transactions,” we examine how this approach might reshape the way we understand imperial infrastructures. The article is part of a special issue and now online in First View with German History. It is available here: “Colonial Transactions in the German Empire: Infrastructures and the Colonial Everyday”.

  • Review of Florence Bernault’s “Colonial Transactions”

    The German Historische Zeitschrift recently published my review of Florence Bernault’s 2019 book “Colonial Transactions”.

    “In den vergangenen Jahren sind die Dichotomien in der Kolonialgeschichtsschreibung – etwa „colonizers“ vs. „colonized“, „segregation“ vs. „encounter“, „agency“ vs. „coercion“ –, allesamt ein Produkt des kolonialen Archivs, erheblich unter die Räder gekommen. Zwar bemühten sich Menschen in kolonialen Kontexten beständig um eine „Grammatik der Differenz“, wie Ann Laura Stoler und Frederick Cooper es formulierten, doch bestimmten solche Differenzkategorien den Alltag nur bedingt. …”

    Read the full review open access on the journal’s website