Oxford School of Archaeology and the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) have announced a partnership that will birth the establishment of a Centre of Archaeological Excellence in West Africa.
The new collaboration, according to a statement on the university’s website, is also expected to develop a new generation of archaeologists, which will tell the narrative of the region’s past from an African perspective and develop student pathways to benefit research.
The statement quoted head of Oxford’s School of Archaeology, Professor Amy Bogaard, as saying: “This is an exciting opportunity to engage with new research in Benin and west Africa, and to help train a new generation of archaeologists working in the region.”
The centre will be a part of ‘The Pavilion’ – the first building within MOWAA’s creative district located in the centre of Benin City – and will serve as an archaeological, cultural and historical research institute as part of the joint initiative.
“Students from West African countries, or with a strong academic interest in West African archaeology and heritage, will benefit from a bespoke programme to access the Oxford School’s world-leading graduate courses in archaeological science,” the statement added.
Director of the Pavilion, Ore Disu, while commenting on the significance of the partnership, said that the collaboration will firmly set out the West African region “on an ambitious path to establish a world-class collections facility and a centre of excellence for archeological science, conservation and museum practice in West Africa. It will strengthen the pipeline for African-centred scholarship, with the view to unearth the sophistication of our shared past and power new ideas about our possible futures.”
The research programme will be led by Professor Shadreck Chirikure, Oxford’s Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science, and an adviser to MOWAA.
According to him: “Some partnerships only extract archaeology samples from Africa and leave the continent with no training and no access to publications by local scholars. This partnership sets an example of how transformative collaboration in research and capacity building can establish a centre of excellence with equal benefits to everyone.”
Starting in 2024, the institute is expected to serve as a hub for the advanced analysis requirements of The Pavilion, associated archaeological investigations and the museum.
