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Paper short abstract:

This paper will focus on Cameroonian and Western women’s agentivity in the circulation of objects acquired during the German colonial expedition of 1911-12 conducted by the artist Marie-Pauline Thorbecke (1882-1971), according to her 1914 travelogue, Auf der Savanne. Tagebuch einer Kamerunreise.

Paper long abstract:

Marie-Pauline Thorbecke’s 1914 travelogue, Auf der Savanne. Tagebuch einer Kamerunreise, offes a new perspective on the conditions of acquisition of “ethnographic collections” during the expedition. The author describes their interactions with women of Foumban coming to the German couple to sell objects; or her friendship with the Queen Mother of the Bamoun kingdom, Njapdounke, who provided her with an “ethnographic ensemble.” What power dynamics do these interactions between Western and Cameroonian women reveal? What meanings are embodied in the exchanged objects?

Marie-Pauline Thorbecke was in charge of the logistics and material conditions of the trip. She was responsible for managing the expedition’s “personnel” (cooks, “boys,” carriers, etc.), packing the couple’s possessions, scientific instruments and “ethnographic collections” and organizing their transportation. Consequently, she is directly involved in the socio-economic and political interactions surrounding the acquisition of collections and is an active protagonist of the forced labor practices exploiting Cameroonian men, women, and children.

Lastly, we must consider Marie Pauline Thorbecke’s travelogue as a tool of mediation between two cultures. From its writing to its publication in 1914, it accompanies the circulation of “ethnographic collections.” In fact, the discursive and literary space assigned to European women at that time confined her to a popular and female readership, deviating from the scholarly discourse delegated to her husband, as a participant in the academic world. What knowledge of the colonial expedition’s displaced objects does the author communicate to the general public? What imaginaries of Cameroonian material culture does she transmit in Germany?