The Making African Connections project researches historic African collections held in Sussex and Kent museums, in England, with the aim of furthering both conceptual and applied debates over ‘decolonizing’ public institutions. The project involves research and digitization of 600 objects from three specific Africa colonial-era collections:

• 19th century objects from Botswana held in Brighton Museum from the collection of Rev. William Charles Willoughby and other sources;
• 19th century objects from Sudan, collected in the context of the wars against the Mahdist forces, held at the Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive;
• 1930s objects from the Namibia/Angola borderlands held at the Powell-Cotton Museum.

The Making African Connections Digital Archive is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK.

Making African Connections is supported by the University of Sussex, the School of Global Studies, the Sussex Humanities Lab, and the Sussex Africa Centre. The project team are:

• Principle Investigator Prof JoAnn McGregor, Professor of Human Geography and African Studies
• Co-Investigator User:Drjwbaker, Senior Lecturer in Digital History and Archives
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate Dr Nicola Stylianou
• Wikimedian-in-Residence Kelly Foster
• Research Assistant in Digital Archiving Freja Howat-Maxted
• Junior Research Associate Emma-Caitlin Watson
• Junior Research Associate User:ErThomas1

• Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
• Royal Engineers Museum Library and Archive
• Powell-Cotton Museum
• Ms Reem el-Helo (El Mahdiyya Restoration NGO)
• Mr Osman Nusairi (Playwright and translator)
• Dr Fergus Nicoll (Journalist and author)
• Brighton and Hove Black History
• Mr Tshepo Skwambane (Diverse Community Empowerment Services)

• Dr Winani Thebele, Botswana National Museum
• Mr Scobie Lekhutile, Khama III Memorial Museum, Botswana
• Dr Napandulwe Shiweda, University of Namibia

Making African Connections is hosting a Wikimedian in Residence