African Collections Futures: Exploring African heritage in the University of Cambridge Museums
The African Collections Futures report, published in December 2024, is an introduction to the African and Africa-related collections at the museums, Botanic Garden and libraries of the University of Cambridge. The term ‘collections’ is used to refer to a wide range of items, ranging from artefacts like the Benin Bronzes to ordinary household objects, natural history specimens like fossils, animal skeletons, living and dried plants, and materials including photographs, archival papers, audio recordings and more. Some of these objects have been at the University for up to 200 years and, like other museums with large collections, most are in storage rather than on display. The amount of material covered in the report is huge and the report is thus a high-level exploration rather than a comprehensive catalogue of what is at the University. The collections at Cambridge come from across the entire African continent, but some countries are much better represented than others. The best represented countries are unsurprisingly where there was a larger British colonial interest and include Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. The report is available to read online, and comes in three formats, including a summary version optimised for viewing on a mobile phone screen: ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/african-futures/
Participants hearing about the African Collections Futures report at the Rise Up: Saturday Social at The Fitzwilliam Museum, 12 April 2025. Image: Rosanna Evans.
So, what next now that the report has been launched? Repatriation is one possible next step for some of the African artefacts at Cambridge, and the report details several past and ongoing processes, as well as examples of just a few of the artefacts that could be candidates for repatriation claims due to the context in which they were acquired. The report concludes with a series of recommendations that are intended to structure engagements with the collections moving forward. What those engagements are depends on the interests and priorities of a wide range of communities – scholars, members of the public, heritage practitioners, cultural leaders etc. – and a key focus of the recommendations is increasing access to the collections for African people, whether in the diaspora or on the continent, so that they can be key decision-makers in the futures of these collections. Collaborations with counterparts across the African continent could help us understand the collections better and develop new and more meaningful engagements moving forward. Examples of such activities include the ongoing ‘Repositioning the Uganda Museum’ project, and a 2024 activity with Zambia-based visual artists, ‘Re-entangling the Visual Archive,’ while the possibilities for more projects are as vast and varied as the collections themselves.
Dr Eva Namusoke presenting at the Rise Up: Saturday Social at The Fitzwilliam Museum, 12 April 2025. The photograph is of an oboiko, a musical instrument from Nigeria which is currently at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. More on this oboiko here.
One immediate goal is making as many people as possible aware of the scale and diversity of the African collections at Cambridge, a much-needed intervention as academic and non-academic audiences alike are often surprised to learn that the University is home to so many objects from the continent. In addition to dissemination through academic networks, discussing the report at public engagement activities like the recent Rise Up: Saturday Social at The Fitzwilliam Museum and at community events in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s off-site storage facility is intended to draw in as wide an audience as possible. Ultimately, African communities – of cultural leaders, activists, academics, artists – must be the ones that decide what happens next with their heritage at Cambridge; the African Collections Futures report is simply the beginning.
*African Collections Futures is part of the Collections Connections Communities Strategic Research Initiative, an initiative that is using collections to address the pressing social challenges we face today
By Dr Eva Namusoke (Senior Curator, African Collections Futures, The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge)