About us

About Us

The content on this website mirrors the ongoing conversations and processes of knowledge co-production within the project “Talking Mats: Interwoven Histories – Connecting Peoples” . The project is a collaboration between the Lamu Museums and Heritage Sites, National Museums of Kenya and the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

Talking Mats was inspired by twelve mikeka – mats made from the leaves of wild date palms –, which are housed in the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, Germany. Eight of these mats bear Kiswahili poems in Arabic script. They prompted the idea to work together on German and East African interwoven histories. Funded within the initiative “The Collaborative Museum” (2023 – 2026), the two cooperating institutions piloted multiple strategies and formats in order to enliven forgotten knowledge and foster exchange around the valuable heritage of the mikeka.

Whilst the core Talking-Mats team is composed of museum staff from both partner institutions, a community network of experts has grown throughout the project, sharing their passion and interest in the mikeka. In total, more than forty specialists, ranging from plaiters and poets to local knowledge bearers and academics, contributed by merging one strand of knowledge into another in order to form a unique, interwoven narrative, in which different forms of knowledge and practices are equally celebrated.

Team

  • Head of Project Berlin: PD Dr Paola Ivanov, Curator of the East-, North East-, Central and South African Collections, Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  • Head of Project Lamu: Mohamed Ali Mwenje, National Museums of Kenya, Lamu Museums and World Heritage Site
  • Scientific coordination Berlin/Lamu: Dr. Jasmin Mahazi
  • Coordination and liaison manager: Munira Mohamed Omar, National Museums of Kenya
  • Provenance Research and Coordination: Sophia Bokop, Ethnologisches Museum und Museum für Asiatische Kunst
  • Museology and Exhibition Production: Myriam Perrot, Ethnologisches Museum und Museum für Asiatische Kunst
  • Collection Management and Curation: Mohamed Ali Hassan, National Museums of Kenya, Lamu Museums and World Heritage Site
  • Conservation and Field Work Coordination: Haji Mohamed, National Museums of Kenya, Lamu Museums and World Heritage Site
  • Digital outreach: Cristina Navarro, Ethnologisches Museum und Museum für Asiatische Kunst
  • IT architecture: Justus Romanowski, Ethnologisches Museum und Museum für Asiatische Kunst
  • UX-Design: Elena García Jiménez, Ethnologisches Museum und Museum für Asiatische Kunst
  • Texts: Jasmin Mahazi, Myriam Perrot, Sophia Bokop, Paola Ivanov, Anna Schäfers, Cristina Navarro

Acknowledgment

We cordially thank all mentioned and not mentioned contributors to the Talking Mats project, especially all participants to the Talking Mats workshop in September 2024 and the Lamu community. Special thanks go to mat weavers, poets and interpreters, scientists and researchers, community stakeholders, dignitaries and other supporters of the project.

The project “Talking Mats: Interwoven Histories – Connecting Peoples” is supported by Prof. Mary Gikungu , Director General of National Museums of Kenya Dr. Fredrick Kyalo Manthi, Director Antiquities, Sites and Monuments, National Museums of Kenya Athman Hussein, Keeper Heritage Coastal Region, National Museums of Kenya Prof. Dr Lars-Christian Koch, Director of Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, im Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss Prof. Dr Alexis von Poser, Vice Director of Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Forschungscampus Dahlem Tina Brüderlin, Head of the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin