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Accepted Paper:
Humanizing a Museum Collection from Benin through Collaborative Re-Interpretation
Zachary Kingdon
(National Museums Scotland)
This paper will discuss the roles that diasporan African activism and collaboration in Liverpool have played in reframing a museum collection from Benin.
Paper Abstract:
This paper discusses the roles that diasporan African activism and collaboration in Liverpool have played in reframing a museum collection from Benin. It covers the collaborative and participatory approach to exhibition making that was developed for the National Museums Liverpool’s "Benin and Liverpool" exhibit, which opened in 2021. This project was intended to update interpretation of that museum’s collection from Benin City and address the historical legacies of injustice that are associated with the collection. It involved a small group from Liverpool’s African diaspora communities being invited to participate in the redisplay process. The African diaspora participants in the project demonstrated a determination to address historical injustices and to help promote a more equitable cultural environment in Britain for their children than the one that they themselves faced while growing up in Liverpool in earlier decades. By bringing the concerns and perspectives of this external group into the exhibition making process, the project succeeded in generating a disruptive curatorial vision that brought new relevance and a more engaging and human perspective to the redisplay. The paper concludes with some broader reflections on the role of African diaspora activism and experience in shaping public discussion of restitution and reparatory representations of Africans and African cultures.