My contextual annotation is delving into the Tierpark that is talked about in the later part of the work, and particularly Hagenbeck's exhibits with it, My Annotation: For one, Tierpark is made up of two german words: Tier and Park. The word "Tier" translates to animal, and Park is, as you can guess, a cognate, which refers to a park. The idea that these "ethnographic displays" were in a place literally called an animal park is telling for how these people were treated and viewed.

I am doing my annotation #2 (discussion comment or question) on a line from the beginning of page 321 of the document and page seven of the pdf. "At the same time, every ethnographic performer was allotted a specific 'character' in the story, as indicated by the employment contract for Hagenbeck's 1910 Sioux trope. Audiences were invited to identify not only with imaginary German adventurers, but also with non-Western characters tailor-made to fit local expectations" My annotation: There is a lot to unpack there. For one, I think the quote shows the full extent of the actions of Western cultures against their colonies. They diluted and modified an entire culture so it would fit their preconception of it, but also the idea that German audiences were supposed to identify with the people on display dismisses everything that these people went through. That idea ignores everything these people went through and what imperialism did and allows for the colonizers to play dress up, in a sense. The entire quote shows that the Europeans thought they had the right to manipulate another culture for their own benefit.

I think this harkens back to the idea of Christianity as one of the primary justifications and methods for colonization. In Things Fall Apart, the catalyst of the entire fall of the village is the missionaries gaining land for a church and converting the misfits of the village. After a while, they gained enough traction and power to truly take over. In this, it criticizes the brutality of the colonizers and their way of using Christianity justify their imperialism.

The Bassa people are a West African ethnic group primarily in Liberia. Apparently, they migrated from the West Sudan to Nigeria, Senegal, the Congo, and Cameroon. They're also a majority or significant minority in certain areas in Liberia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassa_people_(Liberia)

One of the biggest justifications of colonization was that the Europeans were helping the African civilizations through their colonizing efforts. It reminds me of the different portrayals of Africa in postcolonial literature. In Heart of Darkness, the African people as barbaric and in need of leadership. On the other hand, Things Fall Apart is meant to accurately portray African society as a fully formed and complex civilization prior to colonialism. The latter book, interestingly, never portrays African society as perfect, but it shows how the Europeans didn't bring civilization to Africa.

The article describes how black Germans don't have any real classification within the system. So, how is that reflected in the pop culture? How does German popular culture portray black Germans? How has it changed from the time when Germany started to acknowledge their colonial past to today?