Decolonial Audioguide inside the Humboldt Forum
We are delighted that you are open to a critical look through the Ethnological Collection at the Humboldt Forum. This is a self-guided tour of the museum.
Listen to the audio files or read along on your phone.
This is how it works
Go to the second floor of the Humboldt Forum.
There you will find the Ethnological Collection.
"AFRICA" should be written in large letters at the top of the large glass door. Go in through this glass door.
We recommend that you have headphones with you, so that you can listen to everything.
Station 1: The Timeline
Location: 2nd floor, ethnological collection, small foyer, on the wall to the left you can see a large timeline. It has a beam at the top and a beam at the bottom.
Attention! These pictures were generated by AI and do not correspond to the original timeline you will encounter. It is purely for orientation.
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So let's have a look at this timeline, before we head to the exhibition. What you can see here is that in 1823, they decided to open, the first Royal Museum. Here, the Humboldt brothers were involved. The idea was to exhibit objects that had been gathered, during the travels. And the main collectors at that time were missionaries and adventurers or scientists.
In the letter exchanges, between museum directors and, for example, missionaries, we can observe a type of disappointment when they didn't get, the object that they wanted to. They would say something like, yeah, I really tried to convince the religious leader to give or sell me this, very precious and beautiful object.
I was not, successful in convincing him. This is the, tone in some cases. Yeah, of course there are also violent cases at that time. However, when we look further at the timeline we see that in 1884 the Berlin conference was convened, and then in 1886 the first prehistoric ethological museum was built.
And what else we can observe is the inventory how it. Increased in a very short period of time. So with the First Royal Museum the museum had a collection of around 5,000 objects. You can see that here on top. And then with, after the Berlin conference was convened, this inventory, increases drastically.
And they now have a like a collection of 40,000 objects. And even 259,000 objects by the time the Germans lose their colonies due to the treaty , of Versailles after the first World War. So then of course, it raises the question, how come that the inventory was multiplied in such a short period of time, and this is where they do or go about collecting through punishment exhibitions. These punishment exhibitions would have in many cases two ways. Yeah. How they would go about. Number one would be that there are, there's resistance in different regions, and so colonial offices would go into those regions dwell the resistance down, and then plunder.
Version two would be for Colonial offices to go into different colonized territories or occupied territories and then ask for taxes. Yeah. And when people were not able to pay those taxes, they would then plunder until they felt compensated. So this is how we can explain ourselves that, in a very short period of time, the Ethological Museum multiplies its inventory on cultural objects..,
Station 1: The Timeline Part 2
Location: Now move to the right, in order to see the end of the timeline. Looking up, you will see that the Ethnological Museum prides itself with its inventory of 440 000 cultural belongings they're in possesion of.
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So if we look at the second part of this timeline, we would expect that after the . Had to give up the colonies with the Treaty of Versailles, that their inventory on cultural objects would either stay the same or decrease. However, as we can see it actually increases.
Yeah. And so we have to ask ourselves why. During the Nazi era not much happens as we can see here. And then starting from these 1960s, the inventory starts increasing again. Do you have an idea what happened in the 1960s on the African continent? It's a year where 18 countries declare their independence.
And especially now, we would expect for African leaders to claim their objects back. And they did! So between the sixties and the eighties for span of over 20 years different institutions and leaders claim their objects back. However, they're not successful as we can see. And the reason why is because the European countries and Germany as well had already prepared themselves for this case.
We've already talked about colonialism as power structures and that it works through laws. And so what they did was to pass laws beforehand in, before the countries gained their independence that would regulate the difference or the structures of ownership and possession.
So nowadays, when we think about ownership and possession, we can think about the example of a bike: so let's say I own a bike and. Lisa stole it from me and sold it to Thomas. Then usually as a the owner, as long as I can show my certificate Thomas would have to return the bike to me.
However, when it comes to cultural objects, this is not the case because then Thomas can say, oh but I've been taking care of this bike for over 20 years now. I've made sure that it stays intact and so on and so forth. And now Thomas can make use of the law that says that my right to claim ownership has basically expired. (BGB §937 (1))
And so that's the reason why African leaders or countries and institutions don't have the legal rights to claim their objects back. So if European museums decide to give back those objects, then it's basically out of goodwill. But the way the law system, it's set up now African leaders are prevented from legally claiming those objects back.
So that's the reason that these objects were put on an auction market. or art market. And so oftentimes, like in the case of Nigeria they actually bought a lot of those objects back on those auctions. So thinking about the Benin bronzes the British Museum until today has the biggest inventory of Ben in bronze.
The second largest is Germany because instead of sending their own soldiers now. To the colonies, to plunder. They would now hire British colonial officers or buy them from them. And the third largest inventory has Nigeria because yeah, they bought it back.
What you can also see is that the decision to reconstruct this Berlin castle was taken in the Bundestag.
Station 2: A Quote by Robin DiAngelo
Location: Leave the timeline and go to the room with the quote in the entrance: "I have a white worldview, and a white frame of reference." - by Robin DiAngelo
Then go to the left and check out the school books.
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This is a quote by Robin DiAngelo she says:, "I have a white world view and a white frame of reference". Robin DiAngelo is a white sociologist and anti-racist activist. She wrote the book, "White Fragility". Maybe you've heard of it . Why is this quote here why is it relevant for us when we speak about restitution?
Basically what she's saying is that we are all socialized a certain way. Yeah. And even nowadays, this white worldview or a white frame of reference is based on colonial beliefs. And those colonial beliefs, we've spoken about a little bit when we spoke about Christianity and how it didn't allow for people to believe in other gods or in a different religion.
And even the Eurocentric worldview didn't allow for people to still practice or live their own worldviews, like an Afrocentric world view. So, the goal was for those to be replaced. Basically multiple worldviews can't' coexist .
So if we think about how these world views, are being taught to us. Yeah. Nowadays we know different stereotypes, we know different narratives. But how are we taught, those colonial beliefs? Then, there are different ways how they are being taught to us. Number one is of course, through language.
For example. When we speak about different people, we tend to use different wordings. For example when we speak about social structures in Europe, it's nations and powers and, states, when we speak about social structures on the African continent, it's tribes and chiefs and so on.
So we use different wordings and also these type of vocabularies were used purposely in the past. So that people would never imply being on eye level with non-white people. But the fact that we are nowadays still reproducing this idea shows how those colonial beliefs still influence us and even subconsciously.
What do you think, how much of the world nowadays has a Eurocentric world view, a white world view in percentage? Exactly. So actually 80% of the world has been colonized by Europeans. And so of course this means that minimum 80% of this world have a Eurocentric worldview. In some cases, of course, if you people are still connected to indigenous world views or practices this is where we can see that, they coexist. But the way our society is structured globally, it's based on, capitalism is based on Euro-centric standards. Another way how we get those, biased beliefs infiltrated is through school books.
So here we have three cases, three examples where different, researchers and scientists have deconstructed these school books. So what you can see here, for example, in the school book in the middle is Sub-Saharan Africa summarized in two pages. Now what would you say is missing?
Cities, no, cities are being shown. And usually when we think of the African continent, we don't think of cities . Modern life is not something that we connect to the African continent, which also leads to us still having the impression that Africa just consists of villages.
So it's not even only relevant what type of information we get fed, but also what type of information we don't get fed. And both play a very big factor on how the African continent is being perceived.
Station 3: Restitution
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Location: Throphee board.
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Attention! This picture was generated by AI and does not correspond to the original exhibition you will encounter. It is purely for orientation.
When we think about restitution, there are many different arguments that you may have heard, why objects should not be given back. Let's maybe gather some of the arguments that people say in order to prove the point that cultural objects should not be restituted. They say that African countries, for example, do not have the facilities to host or to exhibit those objects, that the museum's, here. educational platforms and therefore these objects are accessible to everyone. They don't know who to give it back to. Some people may even say that some of the objects have been acquired legally. They have purchased certificates.
Okay, let's start with those three. Thinking about whether or not objects should be exhibited in a museum. So on the African continent museums do exist just the, same way cities exist. Yeah. So that, that's one argument already that we can deconstruct, right? The absence of museums is not a fact. What is interesting though is the fact that in, in Europe and the Eurocentric world, we speak oftentimes of artifacts when it comes to cultural objects. So we view them in a one dimensional way.
We love the artistic views on it or handcraft but we don't see them as much more, which is, a very big contradiction to the Afrocentric worldview where these objects are primarily cultural objects that have a function. And so oftentimes, african leaders want these objects to go back, into their function.
So in the example of spiritual objects, even Africans often don't view them as objects, but they see them as subjects. So objects that contain souls in them. Meaning that those subjects are of course, yeah, there to be part of rituals or spiritual ceremonies and so on and so forth, which is why you wouldn't put them in a glass box. So glass boxes in the Afrocentric world can be viewed as a prisons. Because the spirit is not free to wander around. The energy is not free to float.
So what you can see here ("Exploring the upper nile 1840- 1878", "Reisen zum oberen Nil 1840- 1878") behind me, even when we look at the way these spiritual objects are being displayed, you can see on the top arms, you can see below jewelry and then you can see stools. And this is not the way you would curate these objects or subjects from an Afrocentric point of view. And then sometimes when these subjects have been given back, we read in the newspapers that they say: "Oh, now they destroyed it" or "they, they are not putting them on display."
So spiritual objects are not necessarily to be displayed. The same way we wouldn't display the ashes of our ancestors. Spiritual objects also from an African point of view, wouldn't just be displayed. And especially not in a museum.
So that's a very different way of treating those subjects or objects. Then you have of course the aspect that people also complain when the objects are not being exhibited or being destroyed. And so this distraction sometimes sounds like people , don't know what they're doing, but it's just very different from how Europeans think and live, right?
We've already spoken about the mid-century, the mid ages where Europeans were really fighting for survival. And so they were hoarding, conserving and so on so that they could potentially survive the long and hard winter.
That's very different to the Africans in the 15th century where the food was there. But sometimes you even had to be more concerned about the fruits or vegetables to go bad super quickly. With, weather conditions, they will just be ripe and then of course you had to consume it. Meaning that everything goes through a lifecycle from that perspective.
And anything with the lifecycle also has its death. So oftentimes when we think, oh my God, they destroyed those objects, and actually that's not the case. They just put it to rest. Spiritual subjects also can die. It's very important the staff as part of the lifecycle because of course it makes space for new beginnings.
And it symbolizes a lot. And so for us to be conserving these spiritual objects, of course, is really messing with different cultural practices.
Station 4: Restitution Part 2
Location: [XXX]
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So then we have the argument that here there's a lot to learn, right? That the museum is an educational platform and the visitors can learn something. So if you look at this I always call it trophy board, and I will explain to you why I call it trophy board later. So if you look at this exhibition at this trophy board what can you learn?
Not much about African cultures, right? We don't know the nations. We don't know is it all belonging to the same nations? Do they belong to different cultures? We don't know. Also did people have different statuses? That's something we can't read from this exhibition.
And that's because oftentimes museums don't know. The collectors were colonial officers. They were not researchers, so they didn't document anything. And so when people say we don't know who to give it back to, then that's literally what they mean. They don't know.
And that's also interesting because this also means that even if we would make the inventory of museums transparent. And would digitalize it, then we can be very sure that not everything would be claimed back. Just because many of those nations don't even exist anymore and so.
But thinking about education: we don't have, tourists from the African continent in Germany. Why do you think that is? Okay , one person said because they can't afford it. Okay. We'll look into that in a bit. What else? Exactly the visa.
So the same way we don't think about cities on the African continent, in African countries, we often don't think of a middle class or an eliterian class on the African continent. However, they both exist. So you of course, have very rich people on the African continent, and you also have middle class es in different countries more and in other countries less.
So they can definitely afford it. And they are also traveling, but they're not traveling to Germany. And that's because of the Shengen and Visa. In so right now, the way our law system is set up Africans cannot come on a tourism visa to Germany. Because the German government says or thinks that every African person would stay here. Would want to be an immigrant in a beautiful cold Germany.
And so even though the museum claims to be accessible to everyone, again, we have a structure in place that prevents people to enter the museum and even enter the country. And so we have here again, very clearly colonial power dynamics working.
Then the purchase certificate. That's true. Yes. Some people do have purchase certificates, but from British soldiers. So they're not from African people, usually. And if they are, it doesn't mean that there was no type of violence involved.
Station 5: Permanent loan to Namibia
Location: [XXX]
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Attention! This picture was generated by AI and does not correspond to the original exhibition you will encounter. It is purely for orientation.
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So what's the difference between here (when you look straight) and here (on your left)? So what you can see here (in front of you) are texts. What is missing are the objects. You only have pictures, 2D pictures. So this part of the exhibition is the result of a restitution project.
If we look at it closer, we can see that museums can benefit from restitution. If it is connected to knowledge transfer. So Namibian historians were here in Berlin and these objects, they shared their knowledge and went back with the objects. So we can see that a restitution can actually be an enrichment.
Side not: Restitution in this case means the objects have been given back on a permanent loan basis.
Station 6: Symbolizing Power
Location: Trophy Board: Wissmann conquering the Congo
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Okay, so now we've deconstructed different claims why objects shouldn't be given back. And despite the fact that we've deconstructed them we can see that they're still there . And they are exhibited as trophies. So for us to understand a very important symbolism behind these cultural objects, I will tell you a little anecdote about Napoleon.
In the 1800s, Napoleon was in Berlin. He took a stroll and he also visited the Brandenburg Gate. He saw it. He liked it. So he took it. Meaning that the Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate was taken by the French and brought to France. . And so for a span of six years the Quadriga the statue on top of the Brandenburg Gate was in the possession of the French.
Now, the Germans could have said: "You know what, you have a beautiful museum like the Louvre. You can have the Quadriga. Exhibit it in the Louvre. Just tag us! So people know where it is from." But they didn't. They went and got the Quadriga back through violent forces. They stole it basically back. And now the Brandenburg Gate is complete with the Quadriga on top of it, and the square around it is called Parisian Square. So what is the story about?
Prestige? Yes. Pride? Yes. But also power. Of course these cultural objects are a symbol of power and that's also the story that is being told here with this part of the exhibition.
So even here you can see the conquest of the Congo by Wissmann.
Station 7: Gifts under colonial pressure
Location: Trophy Board: Wissmann conquering the Congo
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One throne, four different versions of what happened in the past.