PHOTOTOGO

The project ‘PhotoTogo – Shedding light on colonial photographs of Togo: reciprocal, transnational and interdisciplinary research’ studies a collection of colonial photographs of
Togo held at the Museum Natur und Mensch in Freiburg im Breisgau. The collection, recently catalogued and digitised thanks to the museum’s efforts, consists of 144 positive and
negative glass plates, 15 photographs and 13 black-and-white postcards. Taken during the period of German rule over present-day Togo, they illustrate a wide range of subjects
reflecting the complex colonial context of the time. They can be divided into four categories: (1) landscapes, including images of forests, mountains and rivers; (2) architecture, with a mix of colonial and traditional buildings; (3) scenes of daily life, including markets and religious scenes; and (4) people, showing African and European men, women and children posing, or being forced to pose, mainly in group photos illustrating colonial hierarchies (Sandler, 2013; Reichgelt, 2020). The diversity of subjects covered by a single collection makes it particularly interesting for in-depth study. Often used for domestic and international colonial propaganda purposes (Hahn, 2018; Foliard, 2020 and 2022), these photographs are cultural assets that deserve a thorough analysis that incorporates the perspectives of both the people depicted and those who took the pictures (Azamede, 2018; Mauuarin & Peltier-Caroff, 2022). This also means that an in-depth study of such a collection requires the cooperation of experts from Togo, Germany and France, Germany’s rival in Africa and Europe. Through reciprocal and interdisciplinary research, the consortium of experts from Lomé, Marseille and Freiburg will analyse the collection with the following objectives: (1) to shed light on the provenance of the photographic collection in question; (2) analyse the photographs themselves to deepen our understanding of the intertwined colonial histories and memories of Togo, Germany and France; (3) make the collection and analyses accessible to a wider audience, particularly in Togo; and (4) ensure the dissemination of scientific results. To this end, the project draws on the unique expertise of the consortium, which is situated at the crossroads of history and the social sciences, on reciprocal research and on a transnational approach.