Season 6, Episode 2: “When They Come Back to Communities, You See Life:” Reparations in Uganda

In this episode of Reverb Effect, we follow the journey of Ugandan cultural artifacts from removal to repatriation, and what happens when they return home. Tracing historical materials and their layered afterlives as they moved from colonial Africa to the Cambridge Museum and back to the Uganda National Museum, we explore how collecting trajectories stripped objects of meaning, and how present-day recovery raises complex questions about belonging and identity.

In this episode of Reverb Effect, we follow the journey of Ugandan cultural artifacts from removal to repatriation, and what happens when they return home. Tracing historical materials and their layered afterlives as they moved from colonial Africa to the Cambridge Museum and back to the Uganda National Museum, we explore how collecting trajectories stripped objects of meaning, and how present-day recovery raises complex questions about belonging and identity.

Talitha Pam is a PhD candidate in the joint doctoral program in Anthropology and History, and a 2025-26 Graduate Student Research Fellow at the University of Michigan Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. Cheyenne Pettit received her PhD in History in 2025 and is now Assistant Professor of History at Missouri Southern State University.

View the full episode transcript.

Production Credits

Episode Producers: Talitha Pam, Cheyenne Pettit

Season Producer: Cheyenne Pettit

Executive Producer: Joseph W. Ho

Editorial Board: Joseph W. Ho, Kenneth Mills, Gregory Parker

Music: Eguana, “Wind In Wheat Fields” (Endless Quest Media)

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