A recent event, “What's In Your Wardrobe? Telling & Sharing Clothing Stories”, encouraged attendees to bring items of clothing, and delve into the associations, memories, and connections these special items held. 

It explored how we use stories to understand ourselves and our relationships, encapsulating the principles of the Being Human Festival, which celebrates how the Humanities inspire and enrich our daily lives, and help us navigate a changing world. 

The event was held at Ascension Church Hall in Hulme, and featured Jolene Sheehan (community workshop lead, poet, artist, and more), Professor Sophie Woodward (from ����Vlog�ٷ�’s Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives), and Dr Benjamin Wild (Reader in Fashion Narratives at Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University). 

All three speakers incorporate storytelling into their work. For Sophie and Ben, stories are the threads that connect us to our lives, identities, and imaginations. Jolene leads the project, which aims to connect people to each other, themselves, and their memories through writing. We were delighted to have a number of participants from this project join us for the event. 

The stories behind the items of clothing were moving, engaging and uplifting. 

One woman brought a prayer dress, a loose-fitting garment with a scarf, typically worn by Muslim women during prayer. This item has gained additional significance during the Israel-Gaza conflict, as Palestinian women have taken to wearing their prayer clothes day and night, staying covered and prepared for any situation. 

Another attendee brought the dress she wore on her first date with her then-boyfriend (now husband) nearly 40 years ago. The dress has adapted with changing fashions and hemlines but has remained a constant in her life, standing in stark contrast to the fast fashion dominating our high streets. 

Such items and shared stories were deeply individual, yet they connected people within the room and beyond, highlighting important familial relationships and communities bound by empathy and solidarity. 

“Talking is important” said one attendee and I couldn’t agree more. 

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These African objects, generally seized within a colonial context and often with violence, are usually held in stores concealed from public view. Herein lies the challenge - how to engage with and exhibit African history, yet in ways that are honest, respectful and true to the knowledge and meanings of people’s lived experiences. 

The event was designed to support Manchester Museum’s aims to change its approach to narrating the past, and to reinforce how important local communities are to these developing understandings and approaches to decolonisation.

It was particularly fitting this workshop was held in Manchester, next door to the site of the 1945 Pan African Congress, widely celebrated as a turning point in the journey of African nations to freedom from colonial powers. This poignant connection was pointed out by one attendee while discussing the considerable challenge ahead for a museum committed to decolonising their exhibitions.

With input from people from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, the objects literally came to life as people shared feelings, ritual practices and stories.

For many objects, their meanings emerge through experiences or knowledge about their use, hence the terminology of ‘living cultures’. Sometimes recounting these stories and uses drew excitement and laughter but other reflections warranted a serious tone and quiet contemplation.

An object described simply as “a wooden cup” by its label was so much more. We learnt of the vessel’s potential use for divination purposes, in meaningful rituals for special blessings and protective reasons. What looked at first glance like a decorative pattern etched onto its surface likely symbolised a particular community, and in this case the gift of such an object could symbolise friendship or support between communities. 

The “wooden cup” represents so many things but reduced to this simple label “the knowledge is dead” as one participant so eloquently remarked.

Unsettling memories and historical facts were recounted. One example being the instruction to stop using particular objects - threats by Christian missionaries that heaven wouldn’t be an option if populations continued with African practices and customs: “now we are reclaiming them” said one woman. 

And that’s what this workshop was all about. Using an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to help the Museum discover the values and meanings these objects have for African diaspora. This essentially is at the heart of the Museum’s decolonisation methodology, hence the importance of this collaboration to . Centring those histories and narratives that are often omitted or ignored allows the return of the “living” to these objects encouraging those who know to reclaim and narrate their stories.

What’s next? 

We hope to continue with this collaboration between methods@manchester, ����Vlog�ٷ�, Manchester Museum and the African diaspora community groups who very generously shared their stories during the workshop.

Filmmaker, Dr Sophie Everest is currently leading with the development of a co-produced film featuring the workshop, the stories and the museum’s attempts to decolonise its exhibits, and we hope to release a digital mini-exhibition and Dr Njabulo Chipangura will appear on an episode of , the methods@manchester podcast.

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