Alexander Von Humboldt | Berlin | Germany
"Of course Alexander Von
Humboldt was a extremely fascinating person and scientist. He wrote
texts about the so called “Indians”, the role of colonialism and
how cultures were destroyed. But nonetheless he had notion of
Universal that would not be possible today. One attached to power
over knowledge and the domination of hegemonic thought. He lived at a
time when the West went out into the rest of the world, bringing
Western knowledge with them. And, although maybe he couldn't do
anything about this, it surely left deep traces behind. How do we
even come to the idea that he was the first to climb that mountain?
Maybe Columbus didn't discover America at all, maybe America
discovered Columbus. We should think about things that way around!
But these things made him what he is. Our tendency is always to have
a certain disciplinary decadence as Lewis R. Gordon would say. We're
too comfortable in our narrow disciplines and we stay (trapped)
there. I am certain that if I said that, a thousand historians would
say Who is that guy?. But it is fascinating to be able to enter into
those other fields too – and that is what Humboldt also did. If I
could make a question to Alexander Von Humboldt, today, I would ask
if he could look back, what does he make of the fact that hundreds of
lakes and mountains and roads, are named after him? And why do I ask
that? Because naming is a powerful instrument. A name means a lot. So
if a river or mountain in South America, or anywhere, is named after
Humboldt that means the original name of the mountain or river is
lost. And Maybe a lot of knowledge is also lost that way. Naming this
is one of the biggest instruments that power has. Naming is a
colonial power structure. That means the people born later in that
place can never come to terms with their environment, because they
don't even know its original names. In my opinion that is a terrible
shame. And I would really like to ask him what he makes of that."
Transcription from Bonaventure Soh Ndikung Interview for Kosmos Humboldt. All interview can be accessed here