“The negro, as already observed, exhibits the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state. We must lay aside all thought of reverence and morality-all that we call feeling if we would rightly comprehend him; …” (Hegel 150)

In the time that I spent reading the Hegel excerpt I felt myself go through a range of emotions, as he began to suggest that Africans exhibit characteristics of being inferior to west culture and goes on to strip identity and humanity from people of African descent. Hegel’s inaccurate assessment about African culture is further show as he speaks on the concept in religion in Africa. He uses lack of European religious influence in Africa to paint Africans as undeveloped savages and shows not only a racist but imperialistic mindset to further discredit Africans. Hegel’s pure racism and prejudice shows how Africans are attacked for not assimilating into European culture and I was particularly infuriated with how Hegel dismissed those who did not accept European religion as less than human.

One Reply to “”

  1. I think it’s really insightful that your oppositions switch from Europe vs. Africa to Europe vs. human in your response to, and rejection of, Hegel: you’re absolutely on track to show how Hegel’s aligning humanity with European custom, and how dangerous that is. Knowing this makes Black Panther more evidently conscious of its attempt to undo a strain of racist and supremacist thought about Africa. It also, as strongly implied here, means we can’t take the definition of the “human” for granted: it’s contested space, too often exclusive rather than shared.

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