Geraldine Kendall Adams, Maasai group decides objects can remain at Pitt Rivers Museum, Museums Association, 3 October 2024

Decision is the outcome of seven-year Living Cultures partnership.

Maasai artefacts acquired during the colonial era can remain at Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, following a decision by a group of community representatives that has been working with the museum since 2017.

The museum holds 188 Maasai items from Kenya and Tanzania. Funded by the Staples Trust, the Living Cultures project brought a new approach to decolonisation and repatriation through creating equitable partnerships with Indigenous peoples whose material culture is present in the collections and handing them decision-making power on the future of the artefacts.

The project facilitated a number of visits to the museum by Maasai representatives, who explored the collections and identified culturally sensitive items.

For the final stage of the project, following lineage research, the representatives of five families from whom the culturally sensitive objects were taken visited the museum in September to reconnect with those artefacts and identify the next steps.

The delegation was led by two women, one from Tanzania and one from Kenya, to reflect the role of women as cultural custodians and the fact that women made all the artefacts in question. For the families whose artefact was for women, a female delegate came, and for those whose artefact was for men, a male delegate came.

After extensive deliberations, the group made the decision that the objects should remain in the care of the Pitt Rivers Museum.

A statement from the institution said: “[The group] felt that it was clear that the objects were being well cared for. This decision was reached after much discussion and deliberation and following advice from Mokompo [the group’s spiritual leader].

“From a Maasai perspective, these hereditary objects would never be given away or sold (they can only be lent to family members for a very short time) and therefore, they must have been taken by killing the owner and removing it from the body on the battlefield.

“The objects are considered as warriors and in Maasai tradition, when a warrior dies, they are not brought back home but are buried on the battlefield. Hence, the delegates decided that it would be appropriate, given that the objects are being well cared for, that they would best be kept in the care of the museum. This was deemed comparable to a soldier, having been killed overseas, being buried in a Commonwealth cemetery.”

Ruth Sintamei Tuleto, from the Pan African Living Cultures Alliance NGO, told the BBC that group wanted to continue its relationship with the museum.

“The Maasai and the museum would like to co-exist for other communities to emulate what we have done – we are talking about peace and reconciliation,” she said.

“We do not want to disconnect our relationship with the museum – we want to continue our relationship to make the world a better place.”

The five families held reconciliation and healing ceremonies at the museum, and each family member shared further provenance information about their objects and offered cultural guidance on how the museum should care for them.

The Pitt Rivers Museum said: “Together, we are looking to create equitable partnerships, especially with regards to knowledge sharing about how to care for and present Maasai culture in the museum, and to continue building a partnership based on respect, trust and deeper understanding.

“Because we now know the names of the original owners of these ornaments and because these ornaments are considered to equate to the bodies of their owners, the families asked for each object to be kept in a separate box bearing the name of each owner. It was also agreed that the Maasai nation, families and individuals will have lifetime access to the five ornaments, which can be facilitated online.”

The stories behind each object will be documented and made available to offer more information about the circumstances of separation and the process of healing. Interpretation materials in the form of booklets, video or audio will also be made available in two languages, English and Maa.

The delegation flagged as a matter of urgent concern for the Maa nation that many people, particularly women and girls, continue to lack the formal education to enable them to access the material.

The museum said: “The continued presence of these objects and the legacy of the Maa-led peaceful process of Osotua (relationship building in peace) represents a bond for life, as the ornaments, which are referred to as ‘mothers and fathers’, remain in the care of the museum, as part of a process imbued with cultural healing and relationship building.

“Maasai representatives will work with the museum on future collaborations to decide how the outcomes of this unique process and Maasai cultural traditions can be best represented in the permanent galleries of the museum, so that as many visitors as possible will learn from this process.”