Museums
African Voices Archive
Stanslous Jambo Haro
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William Mutta Tsaka
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Dr. Mary Mbewe is a historian, academic and lecturer at Mulungushi University in Kabwe, Zambia. Prior to joining the university she served as the Keeper of History at the Moto Moto Museum in Mbala, Zambia for 10 years. Shortly after joining Open Restitution Africa's third cohort of case study researcher in 2023, Mbewe obtained her Doctorate of Philosophy in History from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Her thesis titled “From Chisungu to the Museum: A Historical Ethnography of the Images, Objects and Anthropological Texts of the Chisungu Female Initiation Ceremony in the Moto Moto Museum in Zambia, 1931 to 2016” critically reflected on the disjuncture between sacred cultural practices and Westernised collection and display standards and practices in colonial and postcolonial museums. She recenty took up a visiting professortship at the University of Cologne, where she will introduce students to critical museum and heritage studies, postcolonial studies, and archival methods in research on colonial collections.
Affiliation(s): Moto Moto Museum Mulungishi University University of Cologne
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Published Work: Problematic Museum Heritage in a Postcolonial Context: The Case of the Moto Moto Museum Chisungu Collection
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Stanslous Jambo Haro is a Research Scientist in Archaeology and Heritage Management and Senior Curator at the Fort Jesus World Heritage Site in Mombasa. With nearly 15 years of experience in senior roles in the museum, he has been involved in debates and decision-making around the restitution of vigango. As a Mijikenda community member and a staff member of the NMoK, he was uniquely placed to navigate the nuance of the tensions between the museum and the community, and amongst community members, around the restitution of vigango.
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Dr. Winani Thebele is a seasoned museum professional, curator and scholar. She offered her skills and knowledge to the Botswana National Museum for 34 years and retired from her role as Chief Curator and the Head of the Ethnology Division in June 2023. Throughout her tenure at the museum, Winani participated in global, regional and local debates and training around colonial collections – with an emphasis on African diasporic collections, in developing decolonised and inclusive museums, and in collaborative approaches to restitution. Her PhD thesis, which was completed through the University of the Witwatersrand, was titled The Migrated Museum: Restitution or a Shared Heritage? grappled with these aforementioned issues as opportunities for transforming the African museum. She has, through her work, also built an expansive network in the local and international cultural and heritage sectors.
Affiliation(s): Winza Heritage Logistics Botswana National Museum The Making African Connections Digital Archive
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Published Work: Who were they? Repatriation and the rehumanisation of human remains in museums in southern Africa (In Museums and Communities: Diversity, Dialogue and Collaboration in an Age of Migrations); Goodwill, Morality and Legislation in Restitution & Provenance Politics; a Reflection on Customary Laws and Property Ownership in Africa.
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Katrine Hoandi Vigne is a Namibian-Danish heritage practitioner. In 2018, she undertook a Master of Arts in Sustainable Heritage Management at the Aarhus University in Denmark. The focus of her dissertation, “Restitution of a whip and Bible – A postcolonial story of museum restitution”, was the contentious return of Hendrik Witbooi’s Whip and Bible to Namibia. As part of her Masters programme she took up a year long internship at the Museums Association of Namibia. At the time, 23 cultural belongings were being returned to Namibia, as part of a five year long restitution project called Confronting Colonial Pasts, Envision Creative Futures. She is in community with the close knit network of Namibian arts, culture and heritage practitioners who drove the dialogues, and implemented the experiments and outputs of this project.
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William Mutta Tsaka is a Museologist and Researcher at the National Museums of Kenya in Kilifi County. With more than two decades of experience in heritage management, William has extensive knowledge of the official international and national frameworks that inform restitution processes in Kenya. He has also worked extensively with local communities in Kenya’s coastal region, including the Pokomo community, and the Mijikenda community, of which he is a part.
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Wandile Goozen Kasibe is a South African sociologist, museologist, visual artist, and former politician specializing in the decolonization of heritage institutions and the social construction of race. When studying towards his PhD in Sociology he gained prominence through his participation in the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall student movements at the University of Cape Town, which sought to dismantle colonial symbols and address institutional racism and tuition barriers via protests and activism. While recognized for advancing decolonial perspectives in museology, Kasibe's advocacy has intersected with broader debates on cultural repatriation and ideological critiques of Western institutions, often emphasizing empirical challenges to historical narratives embedded in collections. He currently serves as the Director of Living Heritage in South Africa's Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
Affiliation(s): Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (South Africa) University of Cape Town
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Published Work: Museums and the construction of race ideologies: the case of natural history and ethnographic museums in South Africa
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"Dr. Oluwatoyin Zainab Sogbesan is an architect, cultural historian, museologist, and heritage consultant dedicated to advancing African-centered approaches to heritage preservation and museum practice. She holds a PhD in Culture, Policy and Management from City, University of London. She is the Founder and Director of the Àsà Heritage Africa Foundation, an organisation committed to safeguarding and reinterpreting Africa’s tangible and intangible cultural assets. She currently serves as President of ICOMOS Nigeria and Vice President of ICICH (International Scientific Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage, ICOMOS), positions through which she shapes national and global conversations on heritage conservation and policy. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Re:assemblage 2025–26, a platform rethinking archival practices for African and Afro-diasporic art institutions. Sogbesan has also served as a museum consultant for the European Union National Institute for Culture (EUNIC Nigeria Cluster) and has curated and advised on landmark initiatives, including the LagosPhoto Home Museum Project. Her influence extends to the international cultural arena, where she has been invited as a juror for prestigious photography and art awards and as a contributor to panels on restitution, decolonisation, and sustainable heritage. Her research and publications explore themes of decolonisation of museums, Yoruba palace architecture, restitution ethics, and community-led heritage documentation. Through her teaching, curatorial projects, and leadership, she champions inclusive and participatory heritage practices that foreground African voices while engaging with global audiences."
Affiliation(s): Àsà Heritage Africa Foundation International Council on Monuments and Sites
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Published Work: Reflections on the Customary Laws of Benin Kingdom and Its Living Cultural Objects in the Discourse of Ownership and Restitution; The potential of digital representation: The changing meaning of the Ife ‘bronzes’ from pre-colonial Ife to the post-colonial digital British Museum.
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"Sherry Davis is a musician, filmmaker and curator whose current area of interest is Kenyan history and culture. She was born in London, UK to a Kenyan mother and Jamaican father. Having toured internationally as a vocalist and songwriter with some of the world’s biggest electronic music acts, Sherry is now working as an independent artist and producer in afro-soul and afro-classical music. She composed the soundtrack to the short film ‘Remember Who You Are’ by Vogue artist photographer Asiko, which made official selections for Film Africa and Out of Africa Film Festival. She is the project manager and curator of Ode to the Ancestors – a music, documentary and exhibition project that commemorates the Kenyan contribution to archaeology in Africa. Having secured funds from Arts Council England and the British Council, Sherry’s curatorial work has brought together National Museums of Kenya, the British Institute in East Africa, UCL, the Horniman Museum and National Archives in the UK to create an international exhibition of archive images that celebrate the pioneers of Kenyan archaeology and conservation. Sherry has also curated a touring case of Mesolithic stone tools from the Horniman museum’s Kenyan archaeology collection. The case is currently touring institutions in South-East England."
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Anthony Kalume is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in the fields of community engagement, curating, and heritage. Currently serving as the Director of the Culture Connect Project, he also chairs the Diversity Lewes community group, where he works to foster inclusion and cultural awareness. Kalume also serves as the Chief Negotiator for Vigango (funerary statues belonging to the Mijikenda Community in Mombasa, Kenya), and is a key member of Vigango Resting Place Project. His work specializes in the decolonization and repatriation of contested objects, particularly in relation to East African textiles. A published author, Kalume is a recognized expert in his field, committed to making meaningful contributions to cultural heritage and community development.
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