Dominique Johnson
Professor John Oriji
History 430
Yoruba Girl Dancing Part II

Colonization Leads to Interlacing of Cultures Reading the second half of Yoruba Girl Dancing one thing I enjoyed most was the description of the many different cultures that Remi was forced to live amongst. These cultures included the European culture of the upper class Nigerian in Lagos, the culture of being at the private school, the working class British culture, the lifestyle of Germans who wanted well and the culture of the well off Nigerians in London. Remi was able to successfully journey her way through each of these different worlds and it was awfully impressive how she did. Although Remi made it through I was surprised at how some of the adults …show more content…

Savages and darkies were only two words that expressed the feelings that the Europeans felt towards black people. The children did not know any better. They were not used to seeing anyone different than they were which contributed to their curiosity towards Remi and her life. This proves how that particular view of Africans could be largely contributed as an effect of colonialism. The Europeans who lived through it, had a perception that Africans were savages and not worthy of being on the same level as they are. The children were most likely unaware of what took place in the past and their only connection with it was through their parents because of lack of documentation of the African history. Aime Cesaire’s work says that Europeans played the role of Adolf Hitler because of their colonization of Africans. Nobody colonizes innocently and the effects live on through the people. Not every European felt like they were superior to the Africans but although they didn’t feel above the Africans, they did worry about what those who did have these feelings would think about them if they were seen with a black person. On page 71 we read about Betty being hesitant to take Remi into her household because of what everyone else would think about it. “What will it look like having a darkie kid in the house? . . . It might look bad I wouldn’t want any misunderstanding.” (Bedford, 71) Betty was so worried about what people would think of