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24th - 26th May 2023
University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
Registration for this in-person event is now closed. For information and queries, please contact the conference leads Deborah Dainese and Benjamina Efua Dadzie by emailing SRU.gradconference@uea.ac.uk.
Over recent decades there has been increasing interest in collections of African material assembled by Christian missionaries. Both Protestants and Catholics operated across the continent, becoming entangled in a range of imperial processes, amassing collections mostly located in West European and North American museums or still stored by congregations.
Collecting became central to the activities of various denominations, in different ways and at different times. Missionary activity also contributed to the development of national and regional collections in Europe and elsewhere, playing a fundamental role in the construction of knowledge.
In an academic and social context that involves increased debate on decolonisation, repatriation, and the agency of people of African descent, the role played by missionary collections in the development of ideas and images of Africa demands urgent attention.
This student-led graduate conference proposes to raise questions related to the collecting display, and curation of material collected during religious encounters, analysing how these shifted over time, and exploring differences between collecting in Anglophone, Lusophone, and Francophone regions of Africa.
Programme Outline
DAY 1 – Wednesday 24th May 2023
14:00 – 17:00 Researching Museum Collections
A workshop led by Dr Chris Wingfield on researching museum collections and archives. PhD students will be invited to present and discuss case studies relating to their experiences in accessing museum collections and archival material as part of their research.
DAY 2 – Thursday 25th May 2023
8:30 – 9:30 Arrival, Registration & Breakfast
9:30 – 9:40 Welcome by Sainsbury Research Unit Director Prof. Steve Hooper
9:40 – 9:50 Introduction by Conference Leads Deborah Dainese & Benjamina Efua Dadzie
9:50 – 11:10 Panel 1A: Missionaries, Art, and Tools of Conversion
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Patterns with a Mission: Documenting Abstract Designs in Nigeria and Congo | Carlee S. Forbes, Fowler Museum at UCLA
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Collecting Kuba: The Legacies and Collecting Practices of William Henry Sheppard and Joseph Cornet | Rachel Kabukala, Indiana University & Eskenazi Museum of Art
11.10 – 11.40 Tea/Coffee Break
11:40 – 13:00 Panel 1B: Missionaries, Art and Tools of Conversion
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The White Fathers’ Collection of Objects in Rwanda: A Case Study of the Kabgayi Museum | Talia Lieber, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
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Between Catholic Commissions and Colonial Craft Competitions: Rethinking Mashitolo Mwata Zola's Sculptural Production | Deborah Dainese, Sainsbury Research Unit
13:00 – 14:10 Lunch Break
14:10 – 15:30 Panel 2: Objects Biographies and Missionary Propaganda
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The Congo Exhibition of 1909: Curating for a Humanitarian Crisis | Amelia King, Seshat Global Databank, University of Oxford
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Translating Images: Depictions of Difference in the Ndebele edition of The Pilgrims Progress (1902) | Gréine Jordan, Sainsbury Research Unit & The National Maritime Museum
15:30 – 15:50 Summary of panels 1-2 by Dr Chris Wingfield, Conference Chair
15:50 – 16:20 Tea/Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:10 Public Lecture by keynote speaker Dr Cécile Fromont, Yale University | "Images against Idolatry. Missionary Knowledge and Cross-Cultural Visual Reckoning in Early Modern Kongo and Angola" | Chaired by CfAAA Director Prof. Anne Haour, with Conference Co-lead Benjamina Efua Dadzie as Discussant
18:30 – 19:00 Drinks Reception
19:00 – 21:30 Conference Dinner
DAY 3 – Friday 26th May 2023
9:00 – 9:30 Arrival, Registration & Breakfast
9:30 – 9:40 Welcome by Deborah Dainese & Benjamina Efua Dadzie, Conference Leads
9:40 – 11:00 Panel 3: Materiality of African Spirituality in Missionary Context
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Converting Powers: Asante abosom and asuman Figures and Spiritan Art Collecting | Marleen de Witte, Utrecht University
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Legba, Dzoka and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Rethinking Missionary Collections and Vodu Epistemologies | Sela Kodjo Adjei, University of Media, Arts and Communication (NAFTI-Campus)
11:00 – 11:30 Tea/Coffee Break
11.30 – 12.30 Address by keynote speaker Dr Sarah Van Beurden, The Ohio State University | "Missionary Collections, Craft Cultures, and the History of Colonialism: the Case of the Belgian Congo" | With Deborah Dainese as Discussant
12:30 – 13:15 Lunch Break
13:20 – 13:55 Optional Activity: Tour of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts galleries by the Director, Prof. Jago Cooper
14:00 – 15:00 Plenary Session: Missionary Collections and the Restitution Debate | Chaired by Dr Jos van Beurden, Free University, Amsterdam
15:00 – 15:30 Summary and Concluding Remarks by Dr Chris Wingfield, Conference Chair
15:30 – 16:00 Optional Tea/Coffee Break
16:00 CLOSE
Supported by the CHASE Doctoral Training Partnership; the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas; and the University of East Anglia Faculty of Arts and Humanities Graduate School.
