The recent Humboldt Forum at the Nairobi National Museum’s Louis Leaky Auditorium organized by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Nairobi is a wakeup call for Africa to rethink its identity. The forum heralded the coming unique center for art, culture, science, and learning in the historical heart of Berlin that will see the cultures of the world dialogue, debate and analyze issues of global significance.While the manner in which the African thought in cultural artifacts will be represented in the center;  what aspects of African culture will be exhibited and who will give them a nod remain a subject of debate, the role of culture in societal cohesion cannot be underestimated.

The pursuit by the center to collect African artifacts happens in the background of a continent that forgets and allows the state or external agents to decide what should be remembered. This has made the continent to lose identity, preferring to be Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone or Chinese. It is by drawing from its heritage that the continent will determine where it came from, where it currently is, where it is where it is, and where it wants to go.