“History (for me) is a verb: I history, you history, we history.”

- 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
  
  

Important Links:

Chao Tayiana

African Digital Heritage

Museum of British Colonialism

The Train to Uhuru by Carey Baraka

Africa’s Looted Art - A DW documentary

Further episodes of We're Just Doing Us

Further podcasts by Abu Okari

Website of Abu Okari