New project starts at ABI: PhotoTogo – Shedding light on colonial photographs from Togo: conducting reciprocal, transnational, and interdisciplinary research
Under the coordination of Richard Legay, a collection of colonial photographs held at the Museum Natur und Mensch in Freiburg will be critically examined.
The photographs in the collection were taken during German rule over present-day Togo and illustrate a wide range of themes that reflect the complex colonial context of the time. They were often used for both domestic and international colonial propaganda. Using reciprocal and interdisciplinary research, the consortium of experts from Lomé, Marseille and Freiburg will research the collection’s provenance, conduct an historical analysis of the photographs and of the collection, and study the transnational dynamics at stake.
The project is led by the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI), the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), and the Université de Lomé, and supported by the Museum Natur und Mensch, the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, the Archives nationales du Togo, the Ministère de la Culture du Togo, and the Musée national du Togo. The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural and Media Affairs Commissioner and the French Ministry of Culture through the Franco-German Research Fund on the Provenance of Cultural Objects from sub-Saharan Africa.
Further information on the project are available on the project page.