Re-interpreting Colonial Artefacts in Local Nigerian Communities

Between 2018 and 2021, I took part in the [Re:]Entanglements project of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge. It involved conducting research with copies of colonial photographs, pictures of artefacts and audio recordings in the Nigerian communities where they were originally produced. British government anthropologist, N. W. Thomas assembled these materials, which I collectively call ‘artefacts’, during his anthropological surveys in Nigeria and Sierra Leone from 1909 to 1915. Focusing on the Nigerian example, I draw on the research to analyse the new life of colonial artefacts in their communities of origin and the light it sheds on local responses to debates around colonial history. The colonial artefacts are integrated into complex local politics, encompassing issues of identity, community and family histories. They play a significant role in establishing a sense of rootedness within the community and are deployed as means of reclaiming the past, which was originally lost to colonialism. These new meanings emerge as the artefacts get reproduced and transformed through artistic engagement with them. The people who have historical and cultural connection to colonial artefacts take ownership of these objects and give them their own interpretations that project local historical and cultural sensibilities. The creative engagement help to bring ancestors back to life, to re-inhabit the world they left long ago, to reconnect with the living and be celebrated and canonised. These examples demonstrate that amidst the ongoing international controversies surrounding colonial collections, such as reflected in the repatriation project, members of local communities develop different relationships with these artifacts. The relationships downplay the difficult histories embodied in the colonial objects.