Dispersal, Decolonization, and Dominance: African Muslim Objects from the Swahili Sultanate of Witu (1858–1923)

This article examines four objects associated with the Sultanate of Witu (1858–1923), the last of coastal East Africa's independent Swahili Muslim city-state. The objects were removed from Witu between the late 19th and early 20th centuries and dispersed into British and American collections. They include: 1)an illuminated Qur'an manuscript in the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in London, UK; 2) an ivory-inlaid chair in the British Museum in London, UK; 3) a pair of carved wooden sandals in the Brooklyn Museum; and 4) a carved door in the Museum of Science, Boston, US. The study argues that decolonizing African Muslim material culture requires accounting for how present-day structures and institutions of power as well their everyday practices reproduce coloniality and dominance over these objects.

Keywords: East Africa ; East African Coast ; German East Africa ; Islam in Africa ; Islamic Art in Africa ; Lamu Archipelago ; Muhammad Kijuma ; Muslim Africa ; Pate Island ; Punitive Expeditions ; Quran ; Swahili Chair ; Swahili Door