Jana Otto

Dr. Jana Otto is a researcher at the Department of African History, Leibniz University Hannover. She serves as a coordinator for the Master's program Atlantic Studies in History, Culture and Society and contributes to projects at the Center for Atlantic and Global Studies.

• Academic Focus: Interconnections between Africa and Europe, migration history, development policy, German colonial history, Cold War international relations, German-German history, and decolonization.

Research Highlights: Her work explores private postcolonial remembrance through family archives, combining postcolonial studies with memory cultures. Current projects include The Postcolonial Family Archive (2024-2025) and analyzing colonial geographical knowledge in school libraries.

Publications include a 2023 monograph on Ghana-German vocational training exchanges and articles on missionary film portrayals, development aid, and colonial media narratives.

• Scientific Contributions:
  • De Gruyter monograph (2023): Cold War vocational training between Ghana and German states
  • Deutschland Archiv article (2018): Technical skill transfer in East/West Germany
  • Gender analysis in missionary films (2009-2014)
• Awards:
  • Boehringer Ingelheim printing grant (2022)
  • Friedrich Ebert Foundation doctoral support (2013-2018)
  • University of Hamburg graduation scholarship (2018)

Project Leadership: Managed the Colonial Traces in Hanover website redesign (2020-2022) and curated the #HannoverKolonial exhibition (2023), examining local colonial memory through monuments and societal engagement.