99 Questions Podcast

This episode takes a deep dive into the origins of museum practice and the colonial origins of museum collections. How did Western museums end up amassing hundreds of thousands of objects ? How does this legacy influence digitisation today? The discussants explore ways in which African museum practitioners are going beyond these entrenched legacies to create innovative approaches that center indigenous knowledge and prioritize people over objects.

For wider accessibility of the podcast's subject matter, transcripts of the episodes are available in French and German through a free zine, which can be downloaded from the websites of Open Restitution Africa and Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss.

This podcast is brought to you by the Open Restitution Africa project, a collaboration between African Digital Heritage and Andani.Africa. It is made possible with the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss as part of the 99 Questions Podcast.

For more information, visit our websites:

Open Restitution Africa

99 Questions at Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss

Image © Open Restitution Africa

In this episode our two hosts and their guests begin by reflecting on the opportunities that digital technology presents for African societies while confronting the inequalities and biases it entrenches. Together they explore notions of digital access and digital neutrality in the context of African languages, histories and knowledge systems as they reflect on what it means to create equitable digital futures within and outside museum spaces.

For wider accessibility of the podcast's subject matter, transcripts of the episodes are available in French and German through a free zine, which can be downloaded from the websites of Open Restitution Africa and Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss.

This podcast is brought to you by the Open Restitution Africa project, a collaboration between African Digital Heritage and Andani.Africa. It is made possible with the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss as part of the 99 Questions Podcast.

For more information, visit our websites:

Open Restitution Africa

99 Questions at Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss

Image © Open Restitution Africa

What happens to the right to culture when the objects of its manifestations are forcibly dislocated ? Can the return of objects restore this human right? And what does cultural diplomacy have to do with restitution? In this interview with law professor Naazima Kamardeen from the University of Colombo we learn about colonial collections and restitution processes through the lens of law and justice. Naazima Kamardeen also talks about the concept of guardianship and what the loss of the Buddhist statue of Tara means for Sri Lanka.

This is the second part of our double episode that deals with Germany's war atrocities and colonial crimes that were leading up to the genocide against the Nama and Ovaherero people in Namibia between 1904 and 1908. In this episode, we are joined by writer and researcher Dr. Zoé Samudzi and curator and artist Kathleen Bomani, who draw attention to the manifestations of German settler colonialism in and outside of Namibia and East Africa.

In this episode, we're joined by Sima Luipert, chairperson of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association and Nandiuasora Mazeingo, chairperson of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation. Sima and Nandi talk about the ramifications of the first genocide of the 20th century by critically examining its planning and implementation.

This is the first part of our double episode that deals with Germany's war atrocities and colonial crimes that were leading up to the genocide against the Nama and Ovaherero people in Namibia between 1904 and 1908.

For additional information, please visit the website of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation (OGF) https://ogfnamibia.org/ and https://www.namatraditionalleadersassociation.org/

You can also follow the OGF on Twitter: @OGF_Namibia.

In our second episode, we are joined by Njoki Ngumi and Jim Chuchu from the Nairobi-based collective The Nest. We talk about the politics of object restitution and provenance research as a means of distraction.The conversation also looks critically at the attempts of European museums to distract and legitimize, as well as at how the restitution of African objects can queer our past and present.

In the first episode, our host Feven Keleta talks with anthropologist Sharon Macdonald about the relationship between museums and national identity, and the complex nature of big museum projects like the Humboldt Forum. We are also joined by art historian and curator El Hadji Malick Ndiaye who argues for the re-socialization of African objects and how this is intertwined with cultural heritage, history, and human rights.