Activating the Archive: African environmental histories and knowledges materialised in museum collections
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Pitt Rivers Museum
Abstract
The impact of British colonial rule on the landscapes and communities they controlled in countries such as Kenya and Nigeria have had far reaching effects on people's perceptions of what constitutes natural landscapes and how people interact with and manage their environments. These colonial legacies have raised further challenges in contemporary attempts to improve inclusion in addressing environmental issues due to the legacies of exclusion and racism that have hampered efforts to engage diverse communities in environmental sciences and in environmental justice agendas. Anthropological collections such as those in the Pitt Rivers Museums (PRM), containing a wide range of biological materials, objects, photographs and manuscripts collected by colonial scientists, have created a wealth of archives relating to the environmental histories of these landscapes, and importantly about indigenous knowledge systems, many which have been lost through the process of colonisation. Utilising these archives, the project aims to explore the link between colonial science perspectives and the different value systems placed on ecological knowledge that resulted in these legacies of exclusionary environmental histories.
The project will address three main questions:
1. How is environmental history materialised through objects and photographs collected by colonial officers and scientists held in museum collections?
2. How are landscapes and natural resources valued differently from diverse cultural perspectives and how did actions of colonial governments affect ecological knowledge and land use which create these environmental histories?
3. What sustainability solutions do the collections from Africa hold to respond to current environmental challenges? What does the forgotten past teach us about a better future?
To address these questions the project will use a series of workshops to bring together a group of contributors across different disciplines and cultural backgrounds to interact with collections of materials from Kenya and Nigeria. Our project brings together academics in anthropology, archaeology, and environmental science alongside freelance journalists, artists, NGOs and museum curators. Through the use of digital methods developed at the PRM for conducting object handling sessions, the contributors at the workshop will be able to engage 'live' with the museum collections that have been put together and evaluate the themes and identify key connections that help answer the research questions posed. These will then be developed into outputs such as exhibitions, public engagement activities, interdisciplinary databases of the curated collections and frameworks for improving engagement in, and perceptions of, environment sciences across disciplines and cultures in the UK.
The project will address three main questions:
1. How is environmental history materialised through objects and photographs collected by colonial officers and scientists held in museum collections?
2. How are landscapes and natural resources valued differently from diverse cultural perspectives and how did actions of colonial governments affect ecological knowledge and land use which create these environmental histories?
3. What sustainability solutions do the collections from Africa hold to respond to current environmental challenges? What does the forgotten past teach us about a better future?
To address these questions the project will use a series of workshops to bring together a group of contributors across different disciplines and cultural backgrounds to interact with collections of materials from Kenya and Nigeria. Our project brings together academics in anthropology, archaeology, and environmental science alongside freelance journalists, artists, NGOs and museum curators. Through the use of digital methods developed at the PRM for conducting object handling sessions, the contributors at the workshop will be able to engage 'live' with the museum collections that have been put together and evaluate the themes and identify key connections that help answer the research questions posed. These will then be developed into outputs such as exhibitions, public engagement activities, interdisciplinary databases of the curated collections and frameworks for improving engagement in, and perceptions of, environment sciences across disciplines and cultures in the UK.
Organisations
- University of Oxford (Lead Research Organisation)
- Goldsmiths University of London (Collaboration)
- National Museums of Kenya (Collaboration)
- Chuka University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF YORK (Collaboration)
- BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL (Collaboration)
- University of East Anglia (Collaboration)
- BirdLife international (Project Partner)
- Traditional Ecosystems Survival Tanzania (Project Partner)
| Description | The most significant achievement of the project was the network created between the 14 partners attending 4 workshops to analyse Pitt Rivers Museum archives together. The collections show clear historical evidence of indigenous knowledge systems that have a direct link to support policies and practices in nature-based solutions today. We used the methods of repeat and aerial photography as a link between museum collections and the work of NGOs such as our partners BirdLife, Test Trust, and Africa Nature Investors. We came up with a set of guidelines on how these data sets could be better digitised, accessed, and utilised by our partners. These workshops harnessed the expertise of the partners in a collaborative and equitable way which added to the museum's physical and digital displays and educational offerings around objects and photographs from Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. These workshops also directly contributed not only to an academic output, but also a policy brief on the methodology of using a collaborative, workshop-based approach to analysing museum archives together, in an interdisciplinary way, to answer specific questions about environmental histories. Due to the strength of our collaborative network, our outputs were created by different members of the network and thus vary in their forms: short film, short community participatory film, public engagement events, school outreach event, webinar, academic journal article, policy brief, education toolkit, new labels/museum display, MSc studentship for further research, and PhD studentship for further research. |
| Exploitation Route | The policy piece can be taken forward as a methodology for using archives in museum collections to show linkages between colonial environmental science/practices and sustainability policies that affect indigenous communities in Africa today. The digital exhibition, physical museum display, and the education tools created by the project will benefit the visitors to the Pitt Rivers Museum website and museum as well as are tools that are publicly available as educational resources from anywhere connected to the Internet. The method of using the hybrid way of working to bring international experts together both physically and virtually, using different digital communication tools that are adapted to the user, means that we have created a way of working that aims to be equitable between partners and thus could be replicated for future research projects. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Our findings so far have been used in multiple public engagement and school outreach events that will continue being used by the Pitt Rivers Museum Education team as well as fully accessible online to educators as part of our museum toolkits. Our findings have also been added to the Pitt Rivers Museum online database, which is publicly accessible and is used by researchers from different disciplines, including indigenous communities around the globe as part of repatriation and repair for communities to be reunited with objects in British museum collections which were taken as part of empire. The findings of our project have also been used by our community partners in Tanzania (TEST Trust) to create a short, participatory video around how objects in the museum advocate for their rights to live on their land in Tanzania. The findings of our project have led directly to the creation of a policy brief by our BirdLife partners on indigenous ecological knowledge and conservation stewardship as part of the Global Biodiversity Framework. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | BirdLife |
| Organisation | BirdLife International |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Through each of the project workshops, we provided catalogues of objects and photographs from the Pitt Rivers Museum collections which were made available to the BirdLife partners, and then they were able to select specific archives from the museum that related to their own project work in BirdLife, which they were then able to use these data within their own research. The workshops also meant that BirdLife has a new network of collaborators in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria, which is beneficial for their organisational structure of having in-country partners in the places they work, which include these countries. Thus, our research project brought them into conversation through the workshop with TEST Trust and other museum and academic professionals in these countries. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BirdLife partners, through their participation in the workshops, brought their own expertise in conservation policy, and how the research into the collections could feed into policy, either through the data produced out of researching the collections, or through our collective partnership on finding new methods to understand how British colonial policies affected indigenous environmental knowledge and sustainability practices in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. Our BirdLife partners were able to bring their expertise in helping the group to write a policy brief together, but also in explaining how our research could feed into the Global Biodiversity Framework: https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework |
| Impact | Policy Brief (in draft) |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Chuka University |
| Organisation | Chuka University |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Through each of the project workshops, we provided catalogues of objects and photographs from the Pitt Rivers Museum collections which were made available to our Chuka University partner, and then they were able to select specific archives from the museum that related to their own research. The workshops also meant that our Chuka University parnter has a new network of collaborators in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our Chuka University partner brought her specific expertise of community forest management in Kenya, and helped to add information to our museum database on the photographs and objects from areas of Kenya where she has worked. |
| Impact | Short video clip that is part of the digital exhibition for the project Knowledge about specific Kenyan objects in the Pitt Rivers collections, which have been added to our publicly accessible database. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Goldsmiths |
| Organisation | Goldsmiths, University of London |
| Department | Department of Anthropology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Through each of the project workshops, we provided catalogues of objects and photographs from the Pitt Rivers Museum collections which were made available to our Goldsmiths partner, and then she was able to select specific archives from the museum that related to her own research. The workshops also meant that our partner has a new network of collaborators in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our Goldsmiths partner brought her specific expertise of Nigerian environments and the detailed knowledge of the photographs and objects from Nigeria in the museum collections. She also facilitated one of the public engagement events on indigenous African grains, and participated in a webinar for the project hosted by the PRM. |
| Impact | Webinar on the project Short video clip that is part of the digital exhibition for the project Knowledge about specific Nigerian objects in the Pitt Rivers collections, which have been added to our publicly accessible database. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | NMK |
| Organisation | National Museums of Kenya |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We hosted the virtual workshops and provided access to digitised versions of the Pitt Rivers Museum photograph and object collections. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners from the National Museums of Kenya attended all of the virtual workshops for the project and gave their expertise on the objects and photographs in the collections from Kenya, for which they had detailed knowlege. These knowledges have been added to the museum database, and they have also been captured in short videos by our partners which will form part of our digital exhibition. |
| Impact | Short films for the project digital exhibition |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | UEA |
| Organisation | University of East Anglia |
| Department | School of International Development UEA |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Through the hybrid workshops we held, we brought the partners together to analyse objects and photographs that we digitised and made accessible from the Pitt Rivers Museum collections for their own research. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our UEA partner is an expert in environmental justice, so the contribution was specifically his expertise in using the data and knowledge we could extract from the museum collections to help causes of environmental justice today, such as extractive processes, climate change, and land claims/reform. He also specifically tied in his knowledge and expertise of policy with partners from BirdLife International. |
| Impact | Academic paper (draft); Short video clip that is part of the digital exhibition for the project |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | University of York |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Through the hybrid workshops we held, we brought the partners together to analyse objects and photographs that we digitised and made accessible from the Pitt Rivers Museum collections for their own research. We then discussed through the workshops how the PRM collections could be used for further research, and also for the aims and objectives of the partners BirdLife International and TEST Trust. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners from the University of York (academics from Dept of Environment and Dept of Archaeology) attended all of the project workshops (so their time was in-kind) and gave their expertise, specifically around landscape management in Kenya and Tanzania, and the potential ecological knowledge that can be drawn out of the Pitt Rivers collections. The expertise of the York partners was specifically around the use of museum collections to build better understanding of historic land use in these countries and how that can contribute to sustainable land management practices today. The expertise of the team was also in using aerial photography and modelling to analyse alongside the museum collections. |
| Impact | Academic paper (draft in progress) and knowledge about the objects/photos that have been added to the Pitt Rivers Museum online database, which is publicly accessible. Short video clip that is part of the digital exhibition for the project |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Public Engagement Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Coutu, Kabora, and PRM Public Engagement Officer Jozie Kettle delivered a public engagement event in July at the Oxford City Farm. It was a sign up event with 12 adults from the community who volunteered at the farm or lived nearby and were interested in how colonialism affected crops in East Africa and the way we eat today. Through audience feedback forms that we received, we know that this activity changed views and opinions on the use of indigenous African crops, how colonialism affected how people use their land in East Africa today, and the importance of land rights and access to growing sustainable food. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/event/activating-the-archive-hidden-histories-workshop-at-oxford-city-farm |
| Description | Public Engagement Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Coutu, Kabora, Hellermann, Edward-Ekpu (virtually) and PRM Public Engagement Officer Jozie Kettle delivered a public outreach event in July on the PRM museum front lawn with object handling of objects from East Africa, activities with food crops from East and West Africa, and craft activities designed by Edward-Ekpu for children around animals in the Benin Kingdom, Nigeria and geared towards family audiences. We invited people who participated to write feedback on comment cards, where we were able to evaluate that the activities changed the views / opinions of those who took part, and also allowed us to evaluate the international reach of the audience who participated. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/event/activating-the-archive-hidden-histories-drop-in-day |
| Description | School visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 14 students from the Oxford City College who are doing a degree in Art attended a session in person with Ashley Coutu and Melanie Rowntree from the Pitt Rivers Museum and Uwagbale Edward-Ekpu via Zoom where we brought handling objects from Nigeria and Edward-Ekpu discussed with students his graphic novel that he wrote about the Benin Kingdom. 3 students have since approached us to do further work with the museum, including an internship placement in Summer 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We hosted a public webinar on the Activating the Archive project, which had 42 people registered through Zoom. We received comments in the chat from participants from Tanzania, UK, and Kenya, and received follow up emails requesting further information about the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |