Gerhard Grohs


Gerhard Grohs was a German sociologist and African studies scholar. He was one of the pioneers of African Studies in Germany, Professor of Sociology at the Free University of Berlin and at the University of Mainz.

Biography

From 1950 Grohs first studied law in Heidelberg University and was chairman of the General Student Committee there in 1952/53 and 1953/54 second chairman of the Association of German Student Unions. After completing his doctorate in 1959 in Heidelberg, as a member of the Development Commission and the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in Geneva and as Chairman of the Chamber for Church Development Service of the Evangelical Church in Germany . From 1981 to 1990 he was a member of the advisory board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
From 1991 to 1993 Grohs was one of the first members and also chairman of the Association for African Studies in Germany, which, since its foundation in 1969, has made a significant contribution to the establishment of modern African Studies as an interdisciplinary, politically and socially committed field of study in Germany. Grohs played an important role in developing the scientific and political profile of the VAD, for example through the memorandum "Forcing South Africa to Peace" published in 1986, which called for a more rigorous fight against the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
His daughter :de:Henrike Grohs was murdered in 2016 by Islamist terrorists in the Grand-Bassam shootings in Ivory Coast.

Publications (selection)

Articles
  • „Frantz Fanon, ein Theoretiker der afrikanischen Revolution“. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 16, 457-480.
  • The Resettlement of Offenders Act, 1969. Eastern Africa Law Review, vol. 2, pp. 247 -258. 1969
  • „Traditionalismus und Sozialismus im tansanischen Strafrecht“. Verfassung und Recht in Übersee, vol.4. 1967
  • “Difficulties of Cultural Emancipation in Africa”. Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 14, pp. 65-78. 1976
  • „Kirche und Staat in Südafrika und Namibia“. Africa Spectrum, vol. 83 1983
MonographsStufen afrikanischer Emanzipation : Studien zum Selbstverständnis westafrikanischer Eliten. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 275 S., 1967 Zum Wandel der sozialen Funktion afrikanischer Autobiographien. DGS, Bremen, 1981Ausdrucksformen kulturellen Protests in Afrika südlich der Sahara. DGS, Zurich : Seismo, 1989
Edited BooksTheoretische Probleme des Sozialismus in Afrika : Négritude u. Arusha. Declaration. 2nd annual conference d. Association of Africanists in Germany 1970. Hamburg: Buske, 288 S. 1971
  • as co-editor: Zur Soziologie der Dekolonisation in Afrika. Frankfurt : Fischer, 298 p.
  • as co-editor: Afrika hilft sich selbst. Prozesse und Institutionen der Selbstorganisation. Münster/Hamburg: Lit-Verlag. 1994

Literature

  • Brandstetter, Anna-Maria, et Dieter Neubert, 2002: Postkoloniale Transformation in Afrika. Zur Neubestimmung der Soziologie der Dekolonisation. Hamburg: LIT
  • Brandstetter, Anna-Maria, und Carola Lentz, 2006: 60 Jahre Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien. Ein Geburtstagsbuch. Cologne: Köppe
  • Dieter Neubert: „Obituary: Gerhard Grohs, 24. Juni 1929 – 18. Februar 2015“. Africa Spectrum, vol. 50, pp.93-94