Beyond the Objects: The Battlefield Landscapes of “While We Wait”
Beyond the Objects aims at documenting Hehe-German War by digitizing its battlefields. The project will produce an illustrated historical map, an oral history archive, and a documentary film that anchor the displayed objects within their original landscapes.
Hehe-German war is one of the most powerful and well-known resistance in the southern highlands of Tanzania. It is the most determined resistance that was led by Chief Mkwawa with his army to resist against Germany rule in between 1889 and 1898. The key focus areas will include as Lugalo, Munisagala, Konko, Kilimatinde, and Kalenga. These materials will transform the Iringa exhibition from a display of recovered artifacts into a powerful, community-centered reclamation of history told on Hehe land, in Hehe voices, for Hehe descendants. The project will include curators and archaeologist from Iringa Boma Regional Museum and Cultural Center, Landesmuseum Hannover, and Bugungu Heritage and Information Centre (Uganda). At the end the project will cement long term partnership between Tanzania, Uganda and German institutions.
Project Team
Alumni
- Deonis Mgumba | Project lead, oral histories coordination, GPS field documentation, facilitator engagement programs with local communities
- Kiiza Wilson | Documenting the Battlefield Landscape archaeologically, workshop facilitator
Cooperation Partners
- Dr. Jan Küver | Project oversight and senior advice, control and administration of the funds through the institutional accounts of Iringa Boma Regional Museum and Cultural Centre
- Dr. Mareike Späth | Provides expert access to provenance research and colonial archival materials for the Hehe-German Wars
Partner Museums and Involved Institutions
- Iringa Boma Regional Museum and Cultural Centre | Iringa, Tanzania
- Bugungu Heritage and Information Centre | Buliisa, Uganda
- Landesmuseum Hannover | Hannover, Germany
From Connection to Collaboration
Deonis Mgumba, Principal Curator at Tanzania's Iringa Boma Regional Museum and Cultural Centre, and Kiiza Wilson, Executive Director and Lead Curator of Uganda's community-driven Bugungu Heritage and Information Centre, forge a profound connection through their shared participation in the DAAD-administered TheMuseumsLab Fellowship Programme, exemplifying its power to unite East African heritage professionals in advancing decolonial museology. Both fellows, Mgumba as a 2023 participant with expertise in provenance research, tourism anthropology, and exhibition design, and Wilson as an alumnus focused on cultural commons, decolonization, restitution, and earth jurisprudence embody the programme's mission of fostering community-centered innovation, bridging regional museum models from Tanzania's institutional frameworks to Uganda's grassroots initiatives. This fellowship not only equips them with global networks, mentorship, and tools for ethical stewardship and narrative reclamation but also positions them as collaborative agents in reshaping African museums into transformative spaces of justice, equity, and cultural sovereignty, proving TheMuseumsLab's role as a catalyst for cross-border advocacy and professional synergy.
The initiative TheMuseumsLab CollabFund is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).
