Sankofatization and Decolonization Ghosts and Tactile Relics of the German Colonial Past Kwahu, and Bono Ethnic Groups

museum anthropology

sankofatization and contingencies include the use of evidence in coming decolonization: to terms with the dismantling of German colonial The Rapprochement of German hegemony after the Versailles treaty in 1919 and the Museums and Government with Colonial rise of the Third Reich dictatorship, which explicitly Objects and Postcolonialism invoked the colonial past to brainwash its members and to agitate for the recolonization of Africa (Erich- Wazi Apoh sen and Olusoga 2010). In addition, there has been university of ghana the matter of confronting the Nazi Holocaust, one of the grimmest repercussions of the Second World War in Germany (Conrad 2012). Finally, other issues that

abstract were considered more urgent than the colonial past included coming to terms with the effects of the Cold This paper examines how node three national museums in War era and the East-West political division of Ger- Germany are dealing with colonial objects in their spaces. It also explores the German government’s recent rap- many until the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1990. prochement with scholars in its ex-colonies on how to deal The realization that the Nazi Holocaust was a – with its colonial past within a discourse of evidence and genocide against 5.6 6.3 million Jews, people of sankofatization. Sankofatization is defined as a Ghanaian- color, Roma, Sinti, and homosexuals necessitated the Akan ideology that signifies the selection of past ideas for establishment of programs and payment of compen- retention within a type of renaissance paradigm. In Decem- sations after long negotiations and legal proceedings, ber 2015, the German Federal Foreign Office invited dele- to appease and placate families of victims of the Holo- gates from Togo, Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania, and Cameroon caust. These reparations also included the construc- to take part in a unique program dubbed “A Themed Tour tion of memorial spaces for the remembrance of the of German Colonial History.” Reporting on this tour, the victims of the Holocaust (Assmann 2006). To a con- paper assesses the activism of German civic organizations siderable extent, with efforts aimed at redressing the and museums in their ongoing attempts to decolonize colo- wrongs of the Holocaust now established, German nial cityscapes, street names, and exhibits. But this discus- authorities began confronting issues stemming from sion is much more than an ethnographic report. The the Cold War, current geopolitical circumstances of implications of this rapprochement policy for discourses on migrants, and silences from the colonial past. the archaeology of German colonialism and the anthropol- This essay offers a postcolonial examination of ogy of colonial museums denote significant changes in how large, national, node three museums in Germany transnational cooperation. Overall, the themed tour are dealing with the hydra-headed problem associated recalled that silencing of negative past experiences with the demands for and repatriation of colonial and past misdeeds is never permanent. Generational objects in their storage and the growing need to change often influences a renaissance, or sankofatization, decolonize their exhibits. It also assesses the ongoing of past realities to serve emerging postcolonial needs. [mu- German Federal Foreign Office’s recognition of its seum anthropology, Africa, Germany, decolonization, repa- colonial past in Africa and the activism of German triation] civic society groups in their ongoing attempts to decolonize the cityscape and colonial exhibits Until 2015, Germany had been reluctant to address (Coulthard 2014). The implications of this new rap- its colonial past. This article deals with legal, cultural, prochement, a foreign policy stance promoting the and social evidential claims for the reparation of Afri- interrogation of the anthropology of colonial muse- can artifacts acquired during the colonial era and the ums, is also reflected in my efforts to unpack the dis- recalibration of colonialist imagery. Interviews with course on the archaeology of German colonialism in members of German civic society revealed that Ger- Africa (Apoh 2013a, 2013b, 2019). My ongoing man authorities have been preoccupied with several research on the archaeology of German colonialism historical contingencies postdating the First World in Togoland offers an eclectic avenue to examine tan- War that put the postcolonial political engagement gible and intangible German colonial entanglements with their colonial past on the back burner. Such vis-a-vis the unfolding attention to the resurging

Museum Anthropology, Vol. 43, Iss. 1, pp. 29–44 © 2020 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/muan.12218 sankofatization and decolonization ghosts and tactile relics of the German colonial past Kwahu, and Bono ethnic groups. The Akan verb san- (Apoh 2016a, 2016b, 2019). kofa means “return for it.” Sankofa yenchi is an Akan saying that means “recalling or going back for some- THE POLITICS OF RECOGNITION AND SANKOFATIZATION thing is not an abomination.” Thus, when this term is The politics of recognition is an essential process and used in its proverbial sense, it signifies the recalling or practice in the decolonization process. Within this selection of abandoned ideas, practices, and things to process, evidence of hitherto silenced subaltern or be memorialized and advocated for within a renais- minority groups needs to be recognized within sance paradigm. This ideology is symbolized in a national and global geopolitical discourses. Indige- mythical bird whose head is turned backward, as well nous scholar Glen Coulthard revealed that although as other ideological symbols. the politics of recognition was useful during the In the case I discuss here, the concept is applicable decolonizing process in Canada, he feels that its appli- in three related ways. First, the German government’s cation today is counterproductive to indigenous peo- and German museums’ developing postcolonial ple (Coulthard 2014). Specifically, it was useful when enthrallment with their colonial past and exhibitions the cultural rights of hitherto disenfranchised, is unique. Their efforts seem to be geared toward silenced, and assimilated indigenous people were making amends and seeking some kind of closure and finally given state recognition and accommodated common language to come to terms with the histori- “within the framework of the Canadian state and its cal injustices associated with German colonial capitalist mode of production” (cited in Gardner and excesses. The second dimension applies to the Clancy 2017). However, he critiques this politics of demands being made by local societies and original recognition and process of acknowledgement as cur- owners for the return of looted objects currently held rently counterproductive, benefitting the state more in European museums. In this dimension, these in terms of having greater access to indigenous land objects become material evidence of the colonial past. and resources. Alternatively, he champions the The sankofatization or recalling of such patrimonies notion of the politics of art based on the framework belies the repatriation and restitution issues explored of self-recognition, education, and grounded norma- in the ensuing sections. The third perspective of the tivity as a more productive way for indigenous actors concept was, from my view, ill applied when the to “create change in their lives at both the structural Third Reich dictatorship invoked the deeds of the level as well as at the level of identity and culture” German colonial past, as a kind of negative sankofa (Gardner and Clancy 2017). I argue that this ideology, to agitate for the recolonization of Africa approach to museum evidence works best among (Erichsen and Olusoga 2010). Examples of this third indigenous people who are still within transformed negative dimension still linger in German cityscapes states of settler colonization and whose identifiable and museum discourses. In the ensuing sections, I material culture has been locked up in the museum explore the sankofatization paradigm in examining storages of their ex-colonizers. German colonial hold- how the German government and German museums ings in Africa included Togoland, Namibia, Camer- are coming to terms with the colonial past. I argue oon, and Tanzania. With the exception of Namibia, that the ensuing practices of hesitation, denial, need Germany has been silent until recently. for dialogue, counter arguments, calls for provenance The lack of recognition of the historical injustices research, delayed restitutions, and negotiations with of the German colonial past in this postcolonial time various agents and agencies in their ex-colonies are all is at the core of the discussions in this paper. The use emerging and experimental ways of making evidential of the sankofatization paradigm to foreground my claims that address the ills of the German colonial discussion is revealing in many ways. It is derived past in Africa. from the semantic ideology of the ethnolinguistic group in Ghana known as the Akan(s). Most of the THEMED TOUR OF GERMAN COLONIALISM IN HAMBURG AND sub-languages spoken by the people of this larger BERLIN Akan group are mutually intelligible. Within this In December 2015, seven delegates representing group are the Asante, Fante, Akyem, Akwapim, Togo, Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania, and Cameroon

30 sankofatization and decolonization were invited to Germany by the German Foreign with human jaw bones, smocks with amulets, and Office through their respective ambassadors. Repre- drums) from the Kpando Palace by German colonial senting Ghana, I met with six colleagues from these agents in 1914 (Apoh 2015; Dzamboe 2016). The key ex-German colonies in Hamburg to experience the sentiment of the Kpando people was based on the evi- unique visitors’ program that the Foreign Office dential claim that it was unethical to store these ritual dubbed “Themed Tour of German Colonial History.” objects in the Ethnologisches Museum in Germany Several activities were planned and facilitated by the given that these royal objects, within the ideology of office of the Goethe Institute in Berlin. Initially, all sankofa, continue to have indigenous spiritual utility the delegates were at a loss as to the rationale behind and cultural symbolism to the Kpando people. Thus, the invitation to experience this themed tour. Key being mindful of the new postcolonial stance of the questions came to mind: What was the government’s German administration, I was invited not as a repre- official position regarding the colonial history of sentative of a German colonized territory, i.e., Wes- Africa, especially in Ghana and Togo? Why are there tern Togoland in Ghana, but as a scholar who no German political or diplomatic activities regard- specializes on the archaeology of the colonial past in ing this matter? Why do activities of the Foreign the Volta Basin (Apoh 2019). Office seem to be limited to scholars of the ex-colo- The reasons for our invitation to Hamburg and nies with no impact on policy? And what are the key Berlin became clearer as the weeklong activities pro- plans of the German government toward the rehabili- gressed. Eventually, we learned that the motivation tation of tangible German colonial heritage remains behind our invitation by the Foreign Office was to in the ex-colonies? assess how the colonial history of Germany should be Several reasons were suggested by some of my col- appropriately dealt with today. Representatives of the leagues. First, perhaps the upsurge in immigrant Foreign Office also expressed the view that the issues in 2015 compelled German authorities to enter engagement of German cultural institutions with vis- strategic partnerships with Africa to contain the iting delegates was a way of including as many actors migrants at home. Second, others maintained that as possible in order to encourage a culture of co-pro- Germany was using this engagement with scholars as duction of knowledge based on lively discussions. A a way of toning down issues of reparation for colo- meeting at the Rathaus (town hall) in Hamburg nialism. Third, this themed tour, which happened a began with an official briefing by State Secretary year after the German Parliament for the first time in Wolfgang Schmidt. He was of the view that, in the history accepted that their colonial practice in same way that scholars in Africa were concerned with Namibia was genocide, was a way of furthering the the German colonial heritage on the African conti- rapprochement with this issue. I was of the view that nent, they are now also confronted with what to do the schedule of events and the tour package would be with African relics held by museums and archives in educational and afford me the chance to network, Germany. especially with scholars in German colonial studies, It is an undeniable fact that the commercial and museum officials, government officials, German civic defensive confederation of Hanseatic cities, including organizations, and above all with my delegate col- Hamburg, played a dominant role in German colo- leagues, to better understand the nature of the nialism, and it is no wonder that their legacy and her- unfolding rapprochement. Notably, my involvement itage are still found within the cityscapes of Germany. was based on a last-minute intervention by the Ger- Hanseatic firms such as C. Woermann, managed man Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. John Rudiger.€ He from the Woermann Afrikahaus in Hamburg, provi- and his staff realized that I was involved in conduct- sioned their ships and carried colonial goods, sol- ing archaeological research and publishing articles on diers, and officials from the port city of Hamburg to the German colonial past in “Togoland.” This expo- the colonies (Figures 1 and 2). Similarly, African cash sure came to light when the king of Kpando (the late crops, slaves, minerals, commercial goods, and cul- Togbega Dagadu VII) and I paid a courtesy visit to tural objects, as well as human skulls, were offloaded the ambassador to present a petition for the return of at Hamburg (Short 2012; Starzmann 2014). Many stolen cultural regalia (e.g., an ivory side-blown horn institutions built in Hamburg during the colonial

31 sankofatization and decolonization period, such as the Emperor’s Hall inside City Hall, as She held back on the history of the Chamber in terms well as monuments and streets named after colonial of its support for colonial trade in the nineteenth and agents, served the colonial goals of the city. The state early twentieth centuries. She finally alluded to the secretary thought that the development of a sister city fact that some of its registered companies, such as C. agreement with Tanzania, among other things, was a Woermann, now DAL (Deutsche Afrika-Linien), had means of dealing with Hamburg’s colonial past. He historical ties with colonial trade and profited from supported the view that Hamburg needs to investi- them, and that they are still operating in Ghana and gate its colonial past to engage in a more permanent Angola. critical dialogue when it comes to dealing with evidence of negative remembrance, such as the monu- PERSPECTIVES OF GERMAN SCHOLARS ment with Togo Askari Warriors and German Internal postcolonial debates are also raging among colonial troopers commissioned by the Third Reich university scholars and civic organizations. This in Hamburg. This is a practical example of how the development was revealed in a presentation by Prof. positive sankofatization process is on course in Ham- J. Zimmerer as part of the themed tour. He holds one burg. of the five chairs of Modern African History in Ger- Furthermore, our visiting group had a presenta- many and heads the research center called tion on the current economic relations between “Forschungstelle Hamburgs (post-)koloniales Erbe/ Hamburg and Africa at the Hamburg Chamber of Hamburg und die fruhe€ Globalisierung” (The Commerce. Unfortunately, the discussion was not Research Center on Hamburg’s (Post)colonial productive since the representative, Susanne Kuch-€ Legacy/Hamburg and Early Globalization). Zim- meister, the head of the Business Division, did not merer noted that his research center and Hamburg speak initially on the issue of German colonialism. civic organizations are championing the decolonization of some of the colonial sites in Hamburg, as well as questioning the reproduction of street names and monuments evidencing colonial memory and its glo- rification. As a specialist on German colonial history of Namibia, he questioned the seriousness of the Ger- man government in dealing with issues of colonialism, such as the Nama-Herero genocide in Namibia, which requires the repatriation of human skulls as well the restitution of other cultural materials needed for intensive research. The Namibian genocide was denied by the German government for more than a century. Only in August 2004 did a British newspa- per, The Guardian, state in one of its online headlines, “The German Minister Says Sorry for Genocide in Namibia.” The article qualified: Germany apologised for the first time yesterday for a colonial-era genocide which killed 65,000 Herero people in what is now Namibia. “We Germans accept our historic and moral respon- sibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time,” said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany’s development aid minister, at a cere- mony to mark the 100th anniversary of the Figure 1. The Woermann Afrikahaus in Hamburg. (Photo by the Author) Hereros’ 1904–1907 uprising against their [This figure appears in color in the online issue.]

32 sankofatization and decolonization

Figure 2. One of the Woermann ships, christened “TOGO.” (Credit: Goethe Institute Photo Book 2006)

rulers. “The atrocities committed at that time to misapply the 1948 legal convention over the issue would have been termed genocide,” she said, of the Namibian genocide of 1904. Notably, during according to Associated Press. (Meldrum 2004) the centenary celebration of Anglo-German rule in Namibia on July 9, 2015, the German Foreign Ofﬁce The full statement was also published on the declared what happened in Namibia during German homepage of the embassy of the Federal Republic of colonial rule a genocide. This is a clear example of the Germany in Windhoek (German Windhoek application of the sankofa philosophy to make Embassy, https://windhuk.diplo.de/na-en, retrieved amends after a series of deliberate denials. December 2015). According to scholars (Koßler€ One of my Namibian colleagues was critical of 2015; Schwelling 2012), the minister experienced a how the Namibian colonial-era skulls had been mis- backlash and condemnation in the German press in treated by German museums and collectors. He was 2004 for advancing her opinion. She was also lam- of the view that the skulls have been demeaned to the basted for trivializing the role played by Germany by point that their names and identities have been not mentioning the brutalities of the concentration replaced with lab and museum inventory numbers. camps in Africa as well as uncomfortable aspects of He noted that these skulls belonged to genocide vic- German history that were comparable to the Nazi tims, concentration camp victims, and prisoners who Holocaust (Erichsen and Olusoga 2010). received death sentences from the German colonial Despite this apologetic stance offered more than administration on Shark Island. Before they were ten years ago, Professor Zimmerer, in his speech to shipped to Germany, the skulls, being human, had the delegates, expressed doubts about the seriousness names. However, after having been taken through of the German government’s stance on the Nama- eugenic investigations and experiments as scientiﬁc Herero genocide. He claimed that the federal govern- objects and comparative samples, they lost their ment has blocked initiatives to acknowledge the human embodiment and identities. My colleague was genocide on legal grounds, advancing the legalistic particularly concerned about the nature of the evidential claim that the Genocide Convention only research and the accessibility of the results to the Ger- took effect from 1948 and therefore did not apply to man and Namibian publics. earlier actions. With this statement, Zimmerer Professor Andreas Eckert, who also held a chair of revealed the double standard and inconsistency of the African History at Humboldt University and was federal government, which was highlighted in April head of the Institute for Asian and African History, 2015 when the German parliament chastised the gave a scholarly presentation as part of the themed Turkish government for its denial of the Armenian tour. Importantly, his presentation answered some of genocide of 1915. He argued that if the German par- the questions that my Namibian colleague posed. liament had the moral right to chastise a foreign gov- Eckert stated that Namibia has now taken center stage ernment over a 1915 event, then it has no moral right in the memory work carried out on German

33 sankofatization and decolonization colonialism because of the gravity of the crimes and developed in the refurbished Berlin City Palace at a brutality associated with colonial hegemony there. He cost of six hundred million euros (Figure 3). The noted that the official acknowledgment of and rea- museum will showcase colonial objects currently held sons given for the crimes leading to the Nama-Herero in several museums and archives across Germany. genocide brought out the fears of the German right- How these objects will be interpreted in this new con- wing press. Such deep-seated anxiety, mostly held by text remains to be seen; the exhibition is scheduled to the “colonially” minded German public (Starzmann be opened to the public in 2020 or thereafter. Several 2008, 2016), is that once official and public acknowl- criticisms have been leveled against the project by edgment of—as well as an apology for—the genocide academics, civic organizations, and mainstream Ger- was issued, the floodgates would open for calls for man media. The central one is that those in charge are and lawsuits as evidential claims for the payment of not allowing critical dialogue and engagement with compensation and reparations. key voices from Africa, which serves as the source of Although some of the skulls have been returned, most of the exhibited objects. According to the Eckert pointed out that the skulls (mostly from project website: Namibia), which had been subjected to analysis during the colonial period, are currently stored in The Humboldt Forum sets out to generate a archives at several universities, at the Charite Medical public debate appropriate to the multi-layered School’s anthropological collections of human relationships between Germany and the rest of remains, and at various museums in Germany the world. Using a wide range of perspectives, (Charite Berlin 2014). Research on provenance is cur- rhetorical points of view, and narrative forms, it rently underway at the Charite to determine their is designed to do justice to the diversity and val- identity and origins for restitution. In answering my ues of world cultures. For this to work, the key colleague’s questions, Eckert pointed out that schol- driving forces here are inquisitive curiosity in ars, such as Felix von Luschan, Eugen Fischer, Gustav place of prejudice and clarity in place of ideol- Fritsch, Rudolph Poch,€ Rudolph Virchow, and Hans ogy. . . . [T]he Humboldt Forum’s wealth of Virchow, gained prominence from the study and resources provides the essential prerequisites for publication of findings about the skulls. At the time, a dialogue with the world. In a close collabora- their research results gave credence to racist theories, tion of academia and art in the broadest and which were seen as a scientific “success,” even though most accessible sense, three users of the building this led to further degradation of the victims (Sil- will be operating together: the Prussian Cultural vester 2015). Heritage Foundation, the Humboldt University Berlin also bears the scars, memories, and institu- Berlin, and the Federal State of Berlin. . . . [T]he tional history of the German colonial enterprise. It Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will hosted the headquarters of the colonial soldiers, or exhibit the unique non-European collections of Schutztruppe, and some streets, continue to bear its National Museums in Berlin on the second demeaning names, such as Mohrenstraße (Moorish and third floors. Occupying the first floor, the Street). Berlin is also famous as the venue for the Ber- “Workshops of Knowledge,” will be the intellec- lin Conference of 1884–1885, held in the City Palace, tual archives of these museums, parts of which and its hosting of colonial exhibitions, such as the are classified as UNESCO World Heritage 1896 exhibition at Treptower Park (Zimmerman assets. They will be joined by the Humboldt 2001). Such colonial exhibitions treated Africans like University’s Humboldt-Lab and the exhibition zoo animals, created and reinforced racial stereo- World.City.Berlin by the Federal State of Berlin. types, and empowered popular media, the right-wing . . . The project is named after the Humboldt press, and scientists to shape German ideas about the brothers, Alexander and Wilhelm. As a much- colonies (Short 2012; Starzmann 2014). travelled researcher and citizen of the world, Eckert admitted that he had mixed feelings regard- Alexander represents the diversity of the non- ing the ongoing debate about the Humboldt Forum, European collections. Wilhelm, a man of uni- which is a museum space that is currently being versal learning, represents the idea of combining

34 sankofatization and decolonization

Figure 3. Ongoing construction at the site of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The “Humboldt Box” is visible in the front, and the reconstructed City Palaceis in the back. (Photo by the Author) [This ﬁgure appears in color in the online issue.]

different educational establishments and aca- societies. The German government now views demic disciplines under one roof. As the two colonialism as a history of entanglement that must brothers did before, the Humboldt Forum will be researched and discussed in a dialogical way. in the future unite cultural and natural science. Second, even though there are emerging shifts in (Humboldt Forum 2015) public dialogues, she noted that postcolonial engagement with German colonial discourse is still On the issue of the restitution of objects, most principally championed by political and intellectual critical scholars (Apoh and Mehler 2018; Opoku elites. However, such elite perspectives tend to 2018, 2019; Zimmerman 2001) are of the view that inform grassroots projects. She pointed out that when it turns out that an object in a German museum the Afro-German community and the African has been procured through illicit means, it must be migrant community view colonialism and racism returned without any conditions attached. The proce- as linked entities since they legitimize each other. dure must be akin to the restitution of art objects A great deal of postcolonial activism has emerged looted during the Nazi period. The argument that from German antiracist movements. most of these non-European objects were procured Ofuatey-Alazard also mentioned that there are within a colonial legal framework that was in effect at shifts on the German communal level. As in Berlin, the time is problematic because the so-called legal Hannover, and Hamburg, the cityscape and museum framework of colonialism cannot be used as evidence spaces of smaller cities, such as Munich, are being by today’s international legal standards. Cross-cul- decolonized (L’Internationale Online 2017). A huge tural debates involving joint African-German com- symposium was organized in Munich to reevaluate missions should engage in sustainable dialogues on the archives, which was attended by the ﬁrst genera- these issues. tion of the Cameroonian diaspora. Ofuatey-Alazard An Afro-German literary scholar from Bayreuth was surprised that the mayor of Munich quoted University, Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard, offered her per- Frantz Fanon to make his point on the issues of spective during the closing roundtable held at the decolonialization, which is being demanded on the Foreign Ofﬁce in Berlin. She mentioned that Ger- level of knowledge production (e.g., changes in the many has been in denial of its colonial past. How- language and contents of schoolbooks, literature, ever, she believes that this German standpoint is media, and street names). Additionally, Ofuatey-Ala- changing, and she offered three reasons. First, she zard pointed to shifts in the arts realm in terms of its felt there is a burgeoning consciousness that colo- postcolonial engagement with colonialism. Members nialism did not happen “over there”—in Africa— of the arts, academic, and activist communities are all without having any effect on the colonizing engaged in locating evidence of the colonial past and

35 sankofatization and decolonization reviving lost voices. She calls this “the Triple A” ini- Berlin’s seldom discussed colonial past. The tiative on postcolonialism in Germany today. non-profit association presents historic sites and introduces important personalities in con- PERSPECTIVES OF GERMAN CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS temporary history, as well as events in the city’s The themed tour included interactions with civic history related to the deportation of enslaved groups, including Savvy Contemporary, Berlin African peoples. Moreover, Berlin Postkolonial Postkolonial, and AfricAvenir in Berlin. Savvy Con- operates an online platform on colonialism and temporary describes itself as “a lab of conceptual, the history of the resistance and migration of intellectual, artistic and cultural development and persons of African descent. It also initiates inter- exchange; an atelier in which ideas are transformed ventions such as “Genocide has no Statute of into forms and forms into ideas, or gain cognition in Limitations.” their status quo” (http://savvy-contemporary.com/, From a sankofatization perspective, the on-site accessed December 15, 2015). On issues surrounding lecture by Christian Kopp, one of the key leaders on the Humboldt Forum, participants stated that the the tour, which mentioned that several streets in the name “Humboldt” should not be associated with a Afrikanisches Viertel have been named to reminisce museum exhibition that is meant to decolonize the about the colonial past in Africa, was revealing. Nota- subject. They argued that one of the Humboldt broth- bly, the street named Ghanastrasse was inaugurated a ers, Alexander, was a privileged German male who year after Ghana gained independence in 1957, and, traveled the world as a geographer. He was also criti- as such, it evidences a positive memorial and com- cized for disregarding indigenous people in his writ- memoration label. The rest of the street names in the ings since they were viewed as “savages” at the time. Quarter, however, are negative since they were inau- Similarly, he was ambivalent when it came to taking a gurated in the past as a way of reproducing the colo- stance against slavery in Latin America and was not, nial hegemony by keeping the names of the ex- in any way, an anticolonial hero (Pratt 1992). As a colonies alive (e.g., Togostrasse and Kongostrasse), as Humboldtian, one of our colleague delegates from well as keeping the names of the architects of the colo- Togo disagreed with the viewpoint of Savvy Contem- nial enterprise (e.g., Luderitzstrasse, Nachtigalplatz, porary. In reaction to this stance, a German colleague and Petersallee) active in public memory (Starzmann viewed this as a kind of Western influence on colo- 2008, 2016) (Figure 4). nized contexts, exemplified by an African scholar The group championed a crusade to replace the defending Humboldt (Starzmann, personal commu- names of all these streets with the names of more nication 2016; see also Fanon 1967). For another Ger- man scholar, critics of Humboldt do not acknowledge the nuances of Humboldt’s writings in comparison to those of a multitude of his contempo- raries (e.g., explorers, scientists, and novelists). The official guided tour through Berlin-Wed- ding’s Afrikanisches Viertel (African Quarter), which was included as part of the program, was very revealing. The tour offered us a “critical look at the traces of colonialism in Berlin’s public spaces as well as at the history (or histories) of the city’s black residents and their resistance to racism and colonialism,” as announced in our tour program brochure. Important executives from the Berlin Postkolonial civic society were present. According to the 2015 brochure: Figure 4. A book cover issued by the August Bebel Institute showing some of the problematic street names in the African Quarter of Berlin. Berlin Postkolonial was founded in 2007. It was (Photo of book cover by the Author) [This figure appears in color in the established to be a critical voice in divulging online issue.]

36 sankofatization and decolonization positive and inspiring personalities. So far, they have Humboldt Forum” will be questioned in con- been successful with one name change, from Groben-€ tent and form from African and Afro-European ufer to May-Ayim-Ufer. According to the Afro-Eur- perspectives. . . . The Hohenzollerns were pri- ope International blog: marily responsible for the enslavement of thou- sands of people from Africa as well as genocides A Berlin Street is renamed after the internation- and concentration camps in Germany’s former ally renowned Afro-German poetess, education- colonies. Therefore we roundly reject any pre- ist and inhabitant of Kreuzberg, May Ayim sentation of objects in the Berlin Palace which (1960–1996). Ayim fought against ongoing were brought to Berlin during colonial times. racism in Germany and was active in the (Africavenir 2015) women’s movement, and she continuously highlighted Germany’s forgotten colonial past. In his statement during the closing roundtable “This renaming also challenges people to deal held at the Foreign Ofﬁce in Berlin, the chair of Afric- with the close connection between colonialism Avenir?, Eric Van Grasdorff, expressed mixed feelings and racism,” says Luise Steinwachs of Tanzania about the Humboldt Forum debate. He was of the Network (TNW). “The renaming of Grobenufer€ view that the head of the forum, Professor H. Parzin- into May-Ayim-Ufer will not make the topic of ger, discouraged critical dialogue from the onset since colonialism disappear from the map,” empha- an intended public forum to thrash out these issues sizes Joshua Kwesi Aikins from the Black organ- was called off at the last moment. According to Van isation ISD, “but rather it provides a change of Grasdorff, as an international cultural project, many perspective in remembrance.” (Afroeurope of which exist across Europe today, the Humboldt Blogspot 2009) Forum’s ﬁrst concept exhibition would not have been changed to include issues of repatriation of cultural AfricAvenir is another civic organization that has objects and human remains had it not been for the promoted postcolonial activism in Berlin. A state- initial activism and pressure from AfricAvenir. Van ment on their webpage, captioned “Decolonial Grasdorff observed that German national museums Objections against the Humboldt Forum,” sums up that feed and feast on looted artifacts have not played their perspective on German colonialism and the a positive role in educating the German public. decolonization of the Berlin culturescape:

The so-called “Humboldt-Forum,” the center- PERSPECTIVES OF GERMAN MUSEUMS piece of the reconstructed Berlin Palace, will As part of the program, the themed tour enabled us to host the ethnological collections from Africa, interact with the administrative staff of two museums Asia and the Americas. But what kind of sym- in Berlin: the Ethnologisches Museum in Dahlem and bolism is being created when the ethnological the German Historical Museum in the center of the collections, which to a considerable extent are city. At the Ethnologisches Museum, one of the head the result of looting during colonial times, are curators, Dr. Jonathan Fine, took us on a tour of the shown behind a Prussian facßade, Prussia being African exhibition. As we entered the dark spaces at the architect of German colonialism? In order to the beginning of the African section, he immediately raise this question and to stimulate a public rendered an apology for the dark walls and space, debate about German colonialism, AfricAvenir with only restricted lights positioned within the will host Dialogue Forums and a touring exhibi- showcases to illuminate the objects and sculptures. tion which take a critical and decidedly decolo- His reason was that the dark nature of the space and nial look at recent developments from its black walls were meant to cover up defects on the September 2013 onwards. To prevent—or at walls since the building itself needed renovation. For least scandalize—the inauguration of yet the delegates, the reason was obvious. The deliberate another Eurocentric and restorative museum, blackening of the African exhibition hall was meant the colonial history of ethnological objects will to project the view of “Africa, the Dark Continent” be discussed, and the project “Berlin Palace – (Classen and Howe 2006). If this were not the

37 sankofatization and decolonization intention, the museum staff could have easily draped the walls with white curtains to hide any building defects. Histories of objects and their meanings change in time and space. As a curator in charge of exhibiting the controversial Benin collections and the collections on German colonialism at the proposed Humboldt Forum, Dr. Fine planned to move all the collections (including 75,000 inventoried African objects, out of which only 3,500 objects will be exhibited) from Dah- lem at the outskirts of Berlin to the Humboldt Forum in Berlin’s city center. This move is a case of museum transformations similar to the examples discussed by Figure 5. The Kpando royal horns kept in the storage room of the Ethnolo- – gisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem (June 2014). Looking on are the author Jules-Rosette and Osborn (2020, 7 22). However, and Boris Gliesmann, an official of the museum. (Credit: Lukas Bosch, Fine was cautious about showcasing human remains. research assistant) [This figure appears in color in the online issue.] In responding to some of the criticisms leveled against the Humboldt Forum, he reiterated the point that even though museums are highly bureaucratic royal objects (Apoh 2015). The late king of Kpando, institutions, there is now an increased openness in Togbega Dagadu VIII, added a cover letter to my the museum space in Germany for critical dialogue report and made the official request to the German on its collections, and a new generation of curators is Ambassador H. E. John Rudigar€ in October 2015 for taking up positions that redefine the role of muse- the repatriation of these royal items. ums. Fine shared the view that museums are places of According to Fine, he received a copy of the knowledge production. To produce knowledge about request letter. In complying with the museum’s pol- Africa in the Humboldt Forum, he claimed, they are icy, such requests are taken through a formal process going to increase the engagement with multiple involving evidential claims. First, the head curator of voices, especially African experts, to deepen discus- the museum examines who is making the request. For sions on the findings and to better contextualize the example, the exhibited controversial Benin objects collection. are often requested by people who are not attached to On the question of restitution, he mentioned that the Nigerian National Museum or the court of the the museum received fewer requests than expected, king of Benin City, where the objects originated. In although I was unable to verify his assertion. His such cases, the requests are not heeded. Second, the statement suggested that the descendants of the origi- museum seeks to establish the historical basis of the nal owners should have been making more requests request and the arguments being made for wanting to for the return of objects in the collection. But such collect the objects. Finally, the museum tries to deter- requests have indeed been made. A case in point is the mine the overall cultural significance of the objects. active request for Akpini royal objects. According to Based on these findings, the head curator makes rec- oral accounts, these royal objects were stolen by Dr. ommendations to the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbe- Gruner from the palace of the king of Kpando, Tog- sitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), bega Dagadu III, in 1914 during his arrest and subse- currently headed by Professor Hermann Parzinger, quent exiling to Cameroon. He was returned to Togo who also presides over the Charite’s skull collections. by the British in January 1915. Some of his royal items In the case of the Kpando royal objects, Fine noted have been catalogued and stored in the database of that, after extensive research, he believed that one of the Ethnologisches Museum. I had the rare opportu- the items might be linked to the event. However, Fine nity of seeing some of the objects in the museum’s hypothesized that some of the items being requested storage room during one of my archival research trips were procured before the events associated with the to Berlin in 2014 (Figure 5). I documented this per- exiling of King Dagadu III in 1914. This opinion from sonal experience, coupled with archival records of the a museum gatekeeper on an active request needs to be

38 sankofatization and decolonization further investigated with thorough provenance colonial past. At the same time, it is the experi- research on the objects in question in order to clarify ence of globalization that steers our interest the evidential claims. towards the pre-history of colonialism and Our interactions with the curators of the German raises questions about its structural conse- Historical Museum were even more intense. As part quences. Not least of all, the ongoing debates in of the themed tour, an entire day was devoted to visit- Germany about recognizing German conduct ing this museum. Half of the day was spent touring during the war against the Herero and Nama as their current exhibits related to colonialism and par- genocide underscore the troubling nature of the ticipating in a concept presentation delivered by the topic. curators of a 2016 exhibition on German colonialism. The rest of the day was spent in a photo workshop, WRAPPING IT UP AT THE GERMAN FOREIGN OFFICE where we looked though their colonial photographic At the tail end of our themed tour, a roundtable dis- collections on the ex-colonies to try to identify the cussion was organized in the conference room of the African contexts and advise them on evidential issues Directorate-General for Culture and Communication arising from the workshop findings. at the Foreign Office in Berlin for the invited scholars, The concept presentation threw light on the exhi- representatives of the Foreign Office, and members of bition entitled Past and Present of German Colonial- the German public. I had mixed feelings when I ism, which opened in October 2016. The sincerity stepped into this building. Being aware of this site as with which the curators opened up to the delegates the German colonial metropolis from which colonial showed their willingness to engage in critical dialogue policies were directed for implementation in the colo- and to include African expert opinions in their final nies made me realize the extent of the postcolonial exhibition. Notably, I was asked to contribute a schol- rapprochement. Furthermore, I felt a sense of arly piece to the exhibition catalogue (Apoh 2016a). achievement in receiving an opportunity to express The opening sentence of one of the printouts of the critical postcolonial issues emanating from my German historical museum made clear that in Ger- research in “Togoland” to the assembled representa- many today, “there is evidence of a heightened social tives of a former colonial institution. consciousness regarding the colonial past in Ger- The key discussion at the meeting centered on many, yet its significance is still in dispute.” More dealing with the colonial past. This was where the specifically: sankofatization of key elements of the German colo- Controversies about “blackface” in the enter- nial past were recalled as a way of unpackaging his- tainment business or about whether to retain tory to serve historical justice. This process showed the original vocabulary in children’s books— how the German government is now engaging histor- although it might be considered pejorative ically silenced voices into the narrative to construct today—have focused on the powerful effect that and narrate a fuller and more historically accurate racial stereotypes can have. Civil initiatives and account. The meeting was facilitated by German gov- self-organizations of people involved in the ernment officials: Georg Schmidt, regional director Black Enterprise raise questions about the for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel, and Michael acceptability of certain terms and find refer- Reiffenstuel, director for Cultural Relations Policy. ences to current migration. Many post-colonial According to Reiffenstuel, reviewing the history and history workshops have been established that culture of remembrance is an important topic that mark the visible and invisible legacy of colonial- serves as a good foundation for future cultural respect ism in present-day urban space and gather local and education. He tried to lay out the main reasons knowledge of the past. Ethnological and anthro- why we were invited from Africa as part of the final pological collections are being criticized because meeting with officials of the Foreign Office and civic of their unreflected acquisition practices in the organizations. He pointed out that Germany has a colonial era, while these positions call for a long tradition of dialoguing with its international reassessment of the manner of dealing with the partners in history, especially in the context of World

39 sankofatization and decolonization

War I and World War II. He bemoaned the lack of Georg Schmidt laid out the key debates of the Ger- knowledge among many members of the German man government on the colonial question. The offi- public about the nation’s historical past in Africa. He cials wanted a discussion in the Foreign Office—not viewed the Humboldt Forum as an opportunity for just outside of it—as part of a foreign policy dialogue analyzing postcolonial identities, answering questions in which state actors talk with non-state actors and concerning the appropriation of ethnological arti- vice versa. He mentioned that the meeting could have facts, and addressing the colonial conditions as an been larger, involving representatives from the other integral part of the permanent exhibition. He believed ex-colonies in Asia or Latin America, but they first that such a place in the heart of Germany would wanted to initiate a dialogue with African nations to enhance education and encourage dialogue by assess the colonial experiences of the delegates. He including transnational perspectives on colonial said German colonialism cannot be limited to the issues. short period in the late eighteenth and early nine- Another forum for such education was the major teenth centuries since it began in the sixteenth and exhibition on German colonial history organized in seventeenth centuries and did not end in 1919, at least 2016 by the German Historical Museum. Reiffenstuel not for many Germans who still long for the colonial mentioned that the Foreign Office sponsored two past (Apoh 2016a). Even if colonialism has officially heritage experts from Tanzania and Namibia to play ended, it is still difficult for many people to accept in-residence roles in the planning and execution of that cultural forms of colonialism still need to be the exhibition. In detailing this plan, Reiffenstuel also addressed in postcolonial times. reflected on Achille Mbembe’s views on the concept Schmidt quoted Chinua Achebe’s proverb that of racism (Mbembe 2001, 2015), which, he claimed, “until the lions have their own historians, the history lie at the heart of contemporary global political and of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” (Achebe economic inequalities. In this respect, Reiffenstuel 1994). In this regard, he viewed the 2016 exhibition suggested that understanding the colonial past offers by the German Historical Museum as an important a way to tackle global inequalities. Furthermore, he space to assess different perspectives on colonialism, supported Mbembe’s views that the colonial experi- the history of colonial violence in all its shapes and ence is a history of entanglement, which means that it forms, issues of anticolonial resistance, colonial exter- cannot be told from a single perspective that is exclu- mination practices, and the long history of racism sively African or exclusively European (Mbembe and lingering stereotypes. There are also ongoing dis- 2001, 2008, 2015). In light of this view, the Foreign cussions on how to decolonize the curriculum and Office is striving to include the perspectives of part- textbooks used in German schools, and how to decol- ners outside Germany to develop an understanding onize the cityscape of Berlin as a beacon of colonial- of the historical narratives that have been produced ism. about each other, which Reiffenstuel considered a Schmidt speculated that, in terms of foreign pol- form of cultural intelligence gathering. He reiterated icy, issues surrounding colonialism will be the next the view that the Foreign Office wanted to listen to important concern. This is because of colonialism’s the guests and learn about what colonialism means in prevailing effects on issues of borders, languages, Germany today, as well as what it means in the Afri- physical structures, museum exhibitions, and psycho- can context. logical infrastructures. The way out is to examine Reiffenstuel indicated that another reason for the them, not only to see how they work, but also to out- desire for rapprochement concerning issues of colo- line what we can do. He stated that we cannot rewrite nialism is the fact that Germany has an immigrant history from scratch, but rather that each generation population of about 20%, which includes a growing has the capacity to add new chapters by looking at the African community. He believed that this diversity past from a distinct perspective. He thanked us for has an impact on outlooks on German society, its cul- giving the Foreign Office a sense of common language tural narratives, and its imagined communities, fore- to guide its emerging policies on German colonial- grounding a notion of a state that resembles a ism. Or, to put it in other terms, he thanked us for colorful mosaic integrating multiple elements. engaging in sankofatization of the past in a

40 sankofatization and decolonization meaningful way. He supported the return of remains By problematizing the issues at stake, more multiper- to Namibia and activities of a special envoy set up by spectival attention and thorough dialogue can be the German government to deal with the Namibian focused on this discourse (Apoh and Lundt 2013). situation. He posed an open-ended question, asking My project, from the sankofa perspective, offers a us where we will go from here, once we have arrived view on history that comes not only from German at a common language. In dealing with the solutions, archives, but also from African ethnographic and he remarked that engaging civic society is paramount. archaeological expertise. In this regard, it goes far Similarly, reforming the museum space to be more beyond and complements what historians can recon- critical is also vital in this postcolonial change struct. (Kazeem et al. 2009). Schmidt ended by quoting a Several ex-German colonial stations and mission Kenyan scholar’s view of keeping the right balance by sites in “Togoland,” namely Kpando, Ho, Abutia, looking forward as well as back through the rearview Adaklu Waya, Nkonya, Amedzofe, Kete-Krachi (all in mirror while driving, especially when the car behind present-day Ghana) as well as Kpalime, Bassar, and has its headlights on full beam. This perspective Sansanne Mango (all in present-day Togo), have been indeed epitomizes the need for the pursuance of the successfully excavated and researched. I have con- sankofatization paradigm in this discourse on ducted this work in partnership with my graduate museum evidence. students (Amedekey 2018; Ayipey 2016; Fiador 2017; Ocloo 2017; Owusu-Ansah 2018, Senyo 2015) and CONCLUSION:IMPLICATIONS OF CURRENT RAPPROCHEMENT ON my German postdoc partner (Apoh and Huesgen, THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF GERMAN COLONIALISM AND THE forthcoming; see also Apoh 2008, 2010, 2016a, DECOLONIZATION OF MUSEUMS 2016b). One of the aims of this research is to seek An indirect form of ongoing rapprochement is evi- complementary data on how specific precolonial dent in the funding of my research on the archaeology daily cultural practices, settlement patterns, and of German colonialism in “Togoland.” My senior domestic technology transformed as a result of Ger- postdoc project entitled The Archaeology of German man colonial and missionary political and economic Colonial Heritages in Ghana: Repackaging Shared pressures. It also assesses the extent to which the offi- Relics for Strategic Ghana-German Partnership in cial status and boundaries of the German colonial Development was funded through a competitive and missionary officials were blurred by local cultural Volkswagen Foundation’s Humanities Postdoc Ini- pressures. In presenting the extent of German colo- tiative for North and Sub-Saharan Africa. This pro- nial and missionary relics in the area, as well as their ject was judged to be meaningful in reexamining potential for redevelopment in the long term, our evidence of the German colonial past in West Africa. findings (tangible artifacts such as ceramics, faunal Notably, in delving into the cultural diversity of West remains, metal objects, glass, materials for making Africa’s immediate past and a strategic partnership pottery and pipes, as well as documented intangible for the future, the archaeological and anthropological oral accounts) will constitute meaningful evidence appraisal of the German colonial legacy in Africa can- for the conservation, protection, and redevelopment not be marginalized. The overriding questions of this of these shared heritage sites. Constructing these sites research include: (i) Why are there silences on the dis- as living museums will promote heritage tourism and course on the archaeology of German colonial her- sankofa education. In the interim, the materials are itage in West Africa? (ii) Why has evidence of the being processed and curated for exhibitions in the historical archaeology of German colonial sites in Museum of Archaeology at the University of Ghana “Togoland” not been the focus of German scholars and in regional museums in Ghana and the Republic and institutions? And (iii) what is the evidential status of Togo. of colonial relics and residues for developing a pro- Overall, the themed tour of German colonialism ductive outcome? ended well. As a visitor to Germany, I gave a critical These questions are pertinent when compared statement detailing the current situation in the Volta with research and literature on the archaeology of the Region and the northeast regions of Ghana, which British and French colonial legacies in West Africa. constitute the western half of German Togoland

41 sankofatization and decolonization

(publication, forthcoming). My African colleagues What is special about this exhibition is that the were equally effective in voicing their findings and artists were invited to grapple with places of his- critical perspectives on how the colonial legacies toric significance and to convey their personal make themselves felt in their respective countries. views about them. Four different branches of The camaraderie that characterized our interaction the Nationalgalerie will be given over to the from the onset crystalized in the end. It seems that artists: the Alte and Neue Nationalgaleries, the we, the visitors from the ex-colonies, are now being Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, and the Ham- tasked to help our former colonizers to do the decolo- burger Bahnhof-Museum fur Gegenwart, each nizing and sankofatization work. of which is specifically interwoven with our self- The assessment of the postcolonial perceptions image and our national identity. . . . And it was and agency of the key actors revealed above drums art’s primary mission to teach the Germans who home a key point. It is my opinion that the postcolo- they were. Today, artists from Africa hold up nial activism of German and African nongovernmen- mirrors, giving us an opportunity to take a dif- tal agencies, scholars, museum curators, and ferent look at the past and present. . . . Each politicians should coalesce our collective visions in piece takes its own approach to connecting the agitating for a decolonized landscape and cul- past with the present and the future. Herein lies turescape in Germany and in the ex-colonies through an ability possessed by African cultures from sustained critical dialogue and realistic actions. One which we can learn. It is striking to see how Afri- such critical dialogue occurred during a Volkswagen cans are able to look ahead positively, despite Humanities workshop organized in Hanover in their painful experiences with slavery and colo- November 2015, where I had a fruitful interaction nialism. . . . It was particularly young Africans with the curators of Hanover Museum. They were who pointed out repeatedly that the importance also brainstorming on how to decolonize their of looking back should not obstruct our vision museum space, and one of their strategies was to of the future. (Kohler€ 2010:361–63) organize a critical exhibition on some of their colonial For me, ongoing experiences with the unfolding artifacts in November 2016. To include multiple events surrounding Germany’s postcolonial rap- voices in the dialogue, I was asked to produce a schol- prochement with its ex-colonies are remarkable. arly piece for the 2016 exhibition catalogue on Ger- These insightful experiences have offered me diverse man colonialism (Apoh 2016b). perspectives on methods and evidential discourses, Indeed, the ongoing engagement between German extending beyond archaeology to reveal the silences and African government officials, scholars, museolo- of the past regarding postcolonial issues (Apoh 2019; gists, activists, and artists to decolonize the discourse Trouillot 1995). I firmly believe that the ongoing rap- and elevate our shared history is certainly not a given. prochement will ultimately enhance the discourse on The momentum gained through an African artists’ critical museum education and the history of German exhibition in Berlin in 2010 needs to be sustained colonialism. This themed tour brought to mind that among the German public. The exhibit, which was the negativization (Meskell 2002) of the past is never dubbed Who Knows Tomorrow?, ignited a level of permanent since generational change often generates public perception and debate on the simmering a renaissance, in which a “sankofatization” of past impact of colonialism and racism, both historically realities serve emerging postcolonial needs and influ- and today. The varied interpretations given to African ence museums of the future. art became center stage in Berlin during 2010. The opening statement of Horst Kohler,€ then-federal president, in the voluminous catalogue (Kittleman REFERENCES CITED et al. 2010) echoes the sankofatization paradigm Achebe, Chinua. 1994. “The Art of Fiction No. 139.” while envisaging a future in which the shared history Interview by Jerome Brooks. The Paris Review. of Germans and Africans can be contemplated in a Accessed March 18, 2016. http://www.theparisrevie collective quest for both historical justice and a better w.org/interviews/1720/the-art-of-fiction-no-139-chin future: ua-achebe.

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