Oral History
The oral traditions tell the story of the Benin Kingdom from the perspective of Benin people themselves. Passed down across generations, these narratives preserve indigenous knowledge, cultural memory and historical interpretation through spoken word. Contributors including chiefs, elders, scholars and artists contextualise Benin objects within living cultural practices, rituals and ceremonies. By digitising these voices, oral history is preserved as a vital primary source for future research, education and the safeguarding of Edo culture.
Digital Benin collates digital material from institutions, and some of this material is inherently colonial and contains words, terms and phrases that are inaccurate, derogatory and harmful towards African and African diasporic communities. Catalogue transcriptions, book titles, exhibition titles and museum titles may contain harmful terms. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. Owing to the scale of the collection’s data, a process to implement sensitive-content warnings in the displayed data is still incomplete. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities. Read more about the background of this statement here