We're Just Doing Us

- Chao Tayiana

• The railway and how it became more than it was intended
• How there is a lot of power in understanding what the railway became (an essential part of Kenyan lives)  as opposed to just focusing on what it was intended for
• The railway as a great connector, both in life and death
• A citizens’ approach to the concept of the Museum and colonialism
• Why participation is key
• Re-evaluating the concept of the Museum
• “I didn’t like the idea of history being taught in a passive way”
• The cool thing about oral history - once you learn something, it becomes your responsibility.
• How so much was lost - we need more than 3x the effort it took to destroy African culture/history to recover some of the lost bits
• What we lost once we put history in glass cases, boxes, and buildings
• Why building methods that are designed for us is crucial
• The pipeline during the Mau Mau uprising
• Origin of the current idea of a museum - institutions that completely excluded Africans
• Why Europeans took artifacts from Africa
• How African children related to culture while growing up
• The experience of having a fellow tribesperson/country person tell you how you are “so African”
• Tracking the conversation around stolen African artifacts in European museums
• Changing the articulation/language on African artifacts in European museums - it is critical that we centre Africans in these conversations
• The sack of Benin city
• African artifacts in European museums
• Restitution is much more than objects
  

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