Months ago, while leafing through a volume on the archaeology of the Niger Valley, I came across a photo of a spectacular piece of goldsmithing. I was struck by the quality of the jewel, the early date—between the 11th and 14th centuries—and the provenance: Amadou’s treasure. How come I had never heard of it? The book offered no further information. I searched on the Internet. Almost nothing: no Wikipedia entry, just a pixelated photo and a single scientific article. The article, however, revealed how a French soldier, Louis Archinard, had seized the treasure as war booty from Amadou Tall, ruler of the Tuculor Empire in 1890. The capture of its capital, Ségou, put an end to a state that in 40 years had spread through jihad across Mali, Senegal and Guinea. It also spoke of the complicated life in exile of the pieces, marked by dispersion and theft.
A formidable story was in the air. Someone had to tell it. The gods must have listened to me, because Errata Naturae has just published The Hostages, by Taina Tervonen, where the author tells the incredible story of the treasure and the people related to it, in the past and in the present. It is such a fascinating and convoluted story that on more than one occasion I doubted whether it was not fiction, in whole or in part, and that what I was reading was a novel, not the result of an investigation. Because in The Hostages Two phenomena come together: the author’s literary expertise, which captivates us from the first page, and a detective story full of unexpected connections and twists.
The author takes us from Senegal to France and back to Senegal, following the journeys of the pieces of the Ségou treasure and the people who travelled with them over 120 years, sometimes voluntarily and sometimes by force. Because Tervonen also reveals to us that the French did not only collect stolen objects, but also people: women, girls and boys who they kidnapped, gave away, redistributed throughout their colonies or took to France as easily as the objects. The hostages of the title are more than just antiques. In contrast to those who believe that the debate on the objects looted by the European empires is nothing more than a conspiracy, woke In order to create a problem where there is none, Tervonen shows us how the community that rightfully owns the treasure has been trying for decades to recover it. How for them the stolen pieces – which include weapons, jewellery and manuscripts – are not just museum material, but a fundamental part of their collective memory and their cultural and religious identity. And how Europeans have mistreated a heritage that does not even belong to them.
The result of the investigation is a merciless account of French imperialism. But one in which there is no concession to decolonial rhetoric or political harangues. The Hostages It is not a pamphlet. And just as well. In a neutral and non-judgmental tone, the author simply presents the facts as she finds them. She contrasts the voices of Africans and Europeans, living and dead. She compares manuscripts and bureaucratic documents. She transcribes them. She discovers nuances and ambiguities. Things that fit and others that don’t. Stories that turn out to be myths and myths that become history. Colonial soldiers who become fond of those they conquer. Africans who want to be French. African women who almost succeed.
In recent months, there has been much reading in Spain against decolonization, which is equated with an indiscriminate emptying of museums guided by an absurd feeling of guilt. The Hostages offers a very different vision. Decolonizing means returning stolen pieces, of course, but above all it means investigating the past of the collections, listening to many people and telling more and better stories. And Tervonen does this like no one else.
Taina Tervonen
Translation by Iballa Lopez Hernandez
Errata Naturae, 2024
304 pages. 23 euros
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