Group Discussion Response

1. The main idea/question that is staying with me after our discussion is whether or not Leopold was a homosexual, and maybe that was why he caused so much terror in the Congo as an outlet for his frustration.

2. I didn't feel like the discussion questions were open ended enough, because you could answer most of them with quotes from the books. The questions should be more open and able to discuss beyond the text, but those are hard to make. I think we discussed the questions at hand very well.

King Leopolds Ghost Respone (1-32)

I think that this book is actually pretty interesting. I like how it gives a detailed, but not overly detailed history of the events it discusses, such as the discovery of lands or people. I thought it was interesting how the book showed through a series of events how the evolution of slave trade slowly ended the kingdom in the Congo. Also, I thought it was interesting how the one King of the Congo ruled for over 40 years, and throughout those 40 years the biggest changes were made due to the slow settlement of the Portuguese. It must of been interesting and frightening to watch your kingdom change before your eyes like that.
Another part I thought that was interesting was how the author explained the life of Stanley, and then went on with the story, and then explained the life of Bennet, and then intertwined the two stories together and explained how they crossed paths. The life of Stanley was ridiculous.
Lastly, the thing I liked most was how they put in the fun facts about the early learnings of Africa. For example, how the first person in 1350 wrote that they were one eyed people who used their feet to cover their heads. Putting a fact like that in the book, along with others, kept me interested in the story.

Class Thoughts

Today I learned that in the Berlin Conference, countries sat down and divided the continent of Africa among themselves. It was also interesting to learn the acronym SPICER, to look at a situation in multiple ways.
I don't have a question after todays class.
I am curious to learn more about the countries that were colonized, and how that affected and changed the native people who were already there.