Have you ever thought about the journey of artifacts? Particularly how they move from one location to another…

Each stage in an object’s story offers a chance to explore different perspectives – and even distinct interpretations – of the transformations that take place as these items embark on forced or legitimate journeys. Artifacts are shaped by their environments and play a role in instigating change within their communities. However, what exactly transforms when an object traverses farther through time and space?… As they experience journeys characterized by creation, use, movement, documentation, and interpretation.

Consider an Ethnographic Museum, where artifacts from around the globe arrive under various circumstances, each carrying its own unique history.

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Sanpula (also known as Sambula) Surinamese drums from the Museum der Kulturen Basel. (Photos: Anna Wirz, New Media Center) Click on the images to enlarge them.

What insights can a Surinamese drum provide about its craftsmanship and the cultural legacy it holds? Listen to the statement of Alexander Brust, Curator Americas at the Museum der Kulturen, Basel.

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Egúngún Yoruba mask from the Museum der Kulturen Basel. (Photos: Anna Wirz, New Media Center) Click on the images to enlarge them.

What is the relationship between the elaborate craftsmanship of a Yoruba ceremonial mask originating from West Africa and the path it has taken to arrive at this moment? Listen to Anna Schmid answering this question. She is the director of the Museum der Kulturen, Basel.

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Engraved elephant tusks, Benin, Nigeria. From the Museum der Kulturen Basel. (Photos: Anna Wirz, New Media Center) Click on the images to enlarge them.

Certain artifacts bear violent histories and their associated scars, such as the engraved elephant tusk that was looted from the Benin Empire during the 1897 British invasion. Isabella Bozsa is Researcher at the provenance research department of the Museum der Kulturen Basel. Listen to her insights.

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A ritual procession featuring artefacts in the Nyanga Province of Gabon. Click on the images to enlarge them.

While our focus often lies on the transnational movement of objects, even the smallest shift of an artifact’s experiences – whether it’s a simple relocation from one storage space to another or from one temple to another – can render them vulnerable to various transformations.

Maxime de Formanoir is Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Neuchatel. He has conducted fieldwork in Gabon on artefacts from initiation societies. Listen to what he has to say about various processes of mobility.

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John Peffer presents the idea of diasporic objects, proposing a mapping system that traces the journeys of these items similarly to how we track people. These objects not only travel but also adopt various identities along the way. Peffer’s essay provides a framework for understanding the history of African artifacts as carriers of ‘diasporas’ of images across different times and locations. Likewise, Paul Basu’s investigation into object diasporas invites us to recognize the importance of these collections within their diasporic contexts, highlighting their role as essential resources for contemporary ‘communities of implication,’ especially through the ‘remittance corridors’ they can establish.

Author: Zainabu Jallo

References

Basu, P. (2011). “Object Diasporas, Resourcing Communities: Sierra Leonean Collections in the Global Museumscape”. Museum Anthropology, 34(1), 28-42.

de Formanoir, M. (2022). “Images mobiles et cadre rituel dans le Bwiti Disumba de la Nyanga (Gabon).” Images Re-vues, Hors-série 10.

Peffer, J. (2005). “Africa’s Diasporas of Images.” Third Text 19(4), 339-355.

Thomas, N. (2023). Museum Collections in Transit: Towards a History of the Artefacts of the Endeavour Voyage. In Z. Jallo (Ed.), Material Culture in Transit. Theory and Practice (pp. 98-116). Routledge.

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