Entangled Histories. Colonial collections from Togo and Ghana in the Berlin Museums

For the first time, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the Botanischer Garten and the Botanisches Museum, together with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Zentralarchiv der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SPK), are jointly investigating the contexts of acquisition of collections from the German colony of Togo. In cooperation with partners at the Archives Nationales du Togo and the University of Ghana, and in dialogue with local traditional knowledge holders, botanical, zoological and cultural-historical collections from this colonial context are being evaluated in a cross-museum and interdisciplinary manner. A further aim is to develop model methods for transdisciplinary provenance research.

The collaboration between the Berlin museums is historically rooted in the Federal Council resolution of 1889, which designated the three institutions as central collection points for items sent from the German colonies. The museums benefited enormously from this political favour, which led to a significant expansion of their collections. As it was often the same colonial actors who supplied all three museums, they are also linked by a shared history of appropriation.

This case study focuses on the colonial stations of Bismarckburg and Misahöhe. It examines their significance as hubs of colonial violence, economic exploitation and scientific collecting, with a focus on the contexts of appropriation and the colonial actors responsible for the translocation of objects to all three Berlin collections. It also examines the often overlooked contribution of local knowledge bearers and the experiences of the colonised population, as well as the relevance of colonial museum collections in Togo and Ghana today.

By bringing together their archives and collections and conducting comparative research with partners in Togo and Ghana, the museums are generating new perspectives on colonial practices of appropriation, classification and exploitation. The aim is to incorporate oral traditions, memories and local perspectives from Togo and Ghana into the research, thereby giving space to narratives that found no place in the colonial archives.

The collaborative project is being implemented in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Kodzo Gavua, University of Ghana, and Dr. Messan Tossa, Archives Nationales du Togo.

© Museum für Naturkunde Berlin