Thirty-nine Ugandan cultural artefacts were returned from the University of Cambridge to the Uganda Museum in Kampala in June 2024 as part of a programme to reposition and repatriate objects held in overseas collections. The objects were collected during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when Uganda was under British colonial rule, and were acquired by colonial administrators, missionaries, anthropologists, and soldiers. Many of the artefacts were taken from different regions of Uganda and later transferred to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, where they remained for over a century.
The return was presented as a step towards enabling Uganda to conserve, research, and display the artefacts within the country, and to allow for further study of their cultural and historical context. The objects were transferred under a three-year loan agreement for research and exhibition, with provisions for renewal and the possibility of a longer-term arrangement between the parties. The repatriation of the 39 artefacts followed earlier efforts to return Ugandan cultural objects, including the repatriation of the Kibuuka Regalia during Uganda's independence celebrations in 1962. The return is part of ongoing discussions about museum collection practices and the handling of cultural objects acquired during the colonial period.
The collection includes objects acquired in the early twentieth century by the missionary and anthropologist John Roscoe, who conducted ethnographic work in Uganda and later deposited materials with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The items were collected from several kingdoms and communities, including Acholi, Buganda, Bunyoro, Ankole, Bukedi, Teso, Bugisu and Lango. These artefacts were acquired through a range of means, including confiscation, conversion-related acquisition, gifts, donations, purchases and other forms of transfer.
These artefacts include;