Martin Kalb

Dr. Martin Kalb is a historian and faculty member in the Department of History at Bridgewater College. His research focuses on Modern German history, environmental history, genocide, and German imperialism in Africa, particularly colonial Southern Africa (Namibia). He is the author of the 2022 open-access monograph Environing Empire: Nature, Infrastructure, and the Making of German Southwest Africa, which examines German colonialism through the lens of environmental infrastructure. His teaching fields include Modern Europe/Germany, Holocaust/genocide studies, and environmental history.

Education: M.A. in History, Political Science, and English (American Cultural Studies) from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany; Ph.D. in History from Northern Arizona University.

Research Interests: Dr. Kalb’s work interrogates the intersections of colonialism, environmental policy, and historical narratives. His monograph challenges traditional historiography by analyzing how environmental infrastructure shaped Germany’s first settler colony. He also explores ongoing legacies of colonial development narratives in modern debates.