Decolonial Gazing and Hermeneutic Resistance: Black German Challenges to White German Cultural Hegemony in the Museum.

This article examines how Black Europeans in Germany challenge universalizing narratives of cultural heritage through decolonial strategies that critique museum collecting, display, and spectatorship, focusing on Berlin's Ethnological Museum and its successor, the Humboldt Forum. It highlights interventions by scholars like Fatima El-Tayeb, activist initiatives such as No Humboldt21!, and author Sharon Dodua Otoo, whose novel *Adas Raum* explores the symbolic power of objects and the limits of restitution. The article traces the museum's colonial origins, including the acquisition of looted objects like the Benin Bronzes, and discusses ongoing debates about repatriation, access, and the white hegemonic gaze in museums. These decolonial perspectives advocate for shared responsibility and hermeneutic resistance, challenging European claims to cultural heritage and calling for a rethinking of museum practices beyond mere restitution.