Narrating Missionary Collections: The Egba-Yoruba Mission of Henry Townsend and its Material Culture, 1840-1880

拟议的研究采取埃克塞特的皇家阿尔伯特纪念博物馆（RAMM）的Egba约鲁巴对象从Abeokuta（在今天的尼日利亚）的集合作为一个重点，重新思考西方博物馆如何阐明有关非洲社会的历史知识，以及这与非洲社会如何看待自己的方式不同。这些物品是由亨利汤森（1815-1886年）在西非担任教会传教士协会（CMS）传教士期间组装的。通过在Abeokuta的民族志实地考察，吉百利研究图书馆（伯明翰大学）和尼日利亚国家档案馆（伊巴丹大学）的档案研究，RAMM的对象分析，以及与英国约鲁巴社区的积极参与，本研究将探索过去在现在表达的不同方式。其结果将使人们有可能反思这些物品是如何在博物馆环境中概念化的，并探索其他展示方法。

The proposed research takes Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM)'s collection of Egba-Yoruba objects from Abeokuta (in present-day Nigeria) as a focus for rethinking how Western museums articulate historical knowledge about African societies and the ways this differs from how African societies perceive themselves. The objects were assembled by Henry Townsend (1815-1886) during his time in West Africa as a missionary for the Church Missionary Society (CMS). Through ethnographic fieldwork in Abeokuta, archival research at the Cadbury Research Library (University of Birmingham) and at the National Archives of Nigeria (University of Ibadan), object analysis at RAMM, and active engagement with Yoruba communities in the UK, this research will explore the different ways the past is articulated in the present. The outcome will make it possible to reflect on how the objects have been conceptualised in a museum setting, and to explore alternative approaches to display.