Decolonising Cultural Spaces: the Living Cultures Project

Decolonising Cultural Spaces is a feature documentary part of the Living Cultures project coordinated by InsightShare, Oltoilo la Maa (Voice of the Maasai) and Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford in partnership with MAA Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. The documentary follows a delegation of seven Maasai representatives from Tanzania and Kenya spending two weeks in the UK working alongside British museums to decolonise cultural spaces by making them aware of their colonial history and how this can be addressed responsibly.

The trip was a continuation of the Living Cultures: Decolonising Cultural Spaces project, which started in 2018. The project addresses objects of cultural significance to indigenous communities held by museums, and brings the voices of Maasai communities into discussions about the proper care and interpretation of their cultural artefacts and the presentation of their peoples and histories.

A source of pain for indigenous communities is the continued inaccuracy which surrounds these objects in museums today. Relating the impact of the colonial past to the continuous related struggles of the present, the team explored ways of redressing the historical wrongs that led to the collection or theft of these items, and the enduring legacy of colonialism that surrounds them.

This project was supported with funding from the Staples Trust, Network for Social Change, and Bertha Foundation. Camera and editing by Zoe Broughton.