Rethinking Relationships
Rethinking Relationships works across five African countries and four UK museums to develop new museum practice based on equitable collaboration. It is an Arts Council England funded project that began in September 2024 and runs until December 2026. We are working partnership with members of the African Diaspora and people from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana to explore collections and develop museum practice that better serves their needs.
Collections
The project works across four UK museums: the Horniman Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum (University of Oxford), the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (University of Cambridge) and the World Museum in Liverpool. The Museum Ethnographers Group is a partner in the project and we will be sharing the results of our research through them. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do and our partners include heritage professionals, community members, researchers, artists, diaspora groups and academics. Our work and outcomes are tailored to the specific contexts of the museums and our partners.
Events
We are currently developing events to showcase the collections and inspire potential researchers to get more involved in the project. We are developing our events in collaboration with African partners and they feature experts, practitioners and opportunities to interact with the collections and each other.
MEG conference
The Rethinking Relationships project is hosting the 2026 Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) conference at the Pitt Rivers Museum.
The conference will take place on the 23rd and 24th of April 2026. The conference will be slightly different to other MEG conferences, alongside the usual paper presentations it will also feature interactive workshops, a showcase for short films and an evening event that will be open to the public and feature work and talks by community researchers associated with the project.
The call for papers can be found on the MEG website.
People
The team is made up of Nicola Stylianou (Project Co-ordinator) and two Relationship Managers, Tom Fearon and Joel Fagan. You can contact us via RethinkingRelationships@prm.ox.ac.uk or follow us on Instagram at @rethinkingrelationships.
Rethinking Relationships builds on a previous project of the same name. Led by JC Niala from 2019-2022, it focussed on collections from Kenya and Nigeria.
Daisy Byaruhanga visited the Pitt Rivers Museum to see musical instruments from the Kingdom of Bunyoro Kitara.
