In many ways, I wonder about the subtle ways these ethnographic exhibitions functioned in their depictions of Non-European people, as racist and problematic as they were, I have a vain sense of optimism that maybe just maybe someone looked at them and saw someone on display as a person and reconsidered their perspective. It's easy to disregard something read or heard about because it isn't tangible but seeing - seeing is real.

This is such an odd concept to me, how is that a colonizer, such as Germany, wanting to take control over a region and essentially mold that area into its likeness through infrastructure, language, products, and even the smallest minutia of life - why would they be against someone assimilating their culture?

Douala is the largest city and economic capital of Cameroon. The first Europeans to come to the region were the Portuguese in 1472 where over the course of a few centuries and with European interference became the center for the Transatlantic slave trade. After the Berlin Conference of 1884, the city was a German protectorate with colonial polices focusing on commerce and some exploration of unoccupied areas. After World War 1, Douala became a British and French protectorate until 1960 when it gained its independence.

There is no translation of the phrase m’mi yéga on any translation website from what I have been able to find. If put into google the first result is this poem then seemingly random and highly specific articles with one in particular being an 1894 British report on Bengal and another being a scientific article on Geomapping. From what I can assume it is most likely a saying from the Sao, Baka, or Bantu people that inhabit Cameroon but from my research I cannot find anything of substance.

Ngo Njock is a Cameroonian surname that is incredibly rare with it being the 372,836th most common surname in the world with over 99% of all people with the name living in Cameroon and the last percentage coming from a few people living in France, according to https://forebears.io/surnames/ngo_njock.

It's interesting to me how fast the Cold War shifted the perspective of the Nazis, as in a swift few years the memory of World War 2 was tainted with new propaganda and idelogies from to different superpowers. I think this contaminates the very idea of memorial culture because Germany became an ideological battle ground of two foreign nations immediately following the end of World War 2, and the push for memoriam was decades after.

Why do we need to commemorate heroes that don't exist, or erect a false impression of history? Why is there such a need to name objects after people? Could a building or street not be named after an idea or noble concept or anything else, why must there be this requirement to name and honor people?

I think this paragraph answers my previous question, as the distinction between a specific German trajectory not being linked to a wider European one understates certain acts those nations commited while over emphasizing the actions of Germany's past.

Why is it highly questionable when placed within the broader context of western colonialism? Is this paragraph saying that the specific origin of facism is related to a global movement of colonialism rather than a national movement, and if so, why does this distinction matter?

Why was the treatment of black Germans so varied?

Why is this the case? I presume that this thought was from the early 1900s, were Jewish people not vilified before this? At least not to the extent of the vilification of the Nazi's propaganda. What changed in this relatively short time period to alter the perspective on Jewish communities?

Earlier in the book on pages 32-33, Cesaire descibes the hypocrisy of the Europeans and defines exactly what colonialism is, by stating how opposite colonization and civilization are. My question comes in two parts, first being how is colonialism derived, as in where does this idea of supremacy originate from? And second, how can someone such as M. Mannoni approach such crimes against humanity so hapazardly? What benefits someone so greatly that they sell out their fellow humans?

"An ergastulum was a Roman building used to hold in chains dangerous slaves or to punish other slaves. The ergastulum was usually built as a deep, roofed pit below ground level, large enough to allow the slaves to work within it, and containing narrow spaces in which they slept."

From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergastulum

This paragraph evokes the emotion of sonder, the emotion that one feels when they realize everyone has their own life with their own thoughs, feelings, and emotions. And yet, one fails to fully understand it as they cannot quantify billions of other humans with their own lives. The mass amount of people is truly incredible and we realize our failings with our planet and amoungst ourselves and yet as global population we continue with our destructive habits, why? What prompts us as humans to destroy ourselves and our planet - there has to be a reason!?

Culture does not exist and cannot exist within a vacuum, so it would logically follow that the study of culture by extension cannot be studied apolitcally. To study Germany's culture (or any culture for that matter) one will inevitably discuss subject material that is political, as everything is political by nature of it existing. The only factor or question is how poltical is the subject matter? Or in other words, how heated is the debate?

When discussing something in-depth it is necessary for all parties to define what it is they are discussing.

cul·​ture | \ ˈkəl-chər \ Definition of culture (Entry 1 of 2) 1a: the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time popular culture Southern culture b: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization a corporate culture focused on the bottom line c: the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic d: the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations 2a: enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training b: acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

“Culture.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture. Accessed 8 Sep. 2021.