The Stade Museum recently concluded an exhibition titled AMANI kukita | kung’oa, rooted in a three-year research project into traditional Tanzanian cultures. This research drew from the extensive collection of German botanist Karl Braun (1870–1935), who gathered botanical and cultural artifacts during his time in Tanzania ( previously German East Africa). The exhibition showcased the work of Tanzanian artists Valerie Asiimwe Amani and Rehema Chachage, alongside German artist Yvette Kießling and the Karl Braun collection.
AMANI kukita | kung’oa traces the legacy of the Reichskolonialamt (Imperial Colonial Office), which founded the Kaiserliche Biologischlandwirtschaftliche Amani Institut (Imperial Biological-Agricultural Amani Institute) in the Usambara Mountains of present-day Tanzania. Central to the exhibition is Braun’s collection of over 600 botanical and cultural objects, which he gifted to the city of Stade before his death. Today, these artifacts remain held by the museum.
In an era defined by calls for repatriation and decolonization, the Stade Museum interrogates the long-overdue scrutiny of Braun’s collection. Once a hub of colonial ambition—drawn to Tanzania’s rich botanical and cultural diversity—the institute now serves as a space to reflect on its fraught past. The museum foregrounds these collections and actively questions both the historical and ongoing practices used to acquire them—many of which still persist today.
The collection includes tools, textiles, instruments, photographs, maps, and documents. These collections, provided concrete evidence into diseases like Malaria which .Together, they tell stories of colonial occupation, the exploitation of people and nature, and the erasure and appropriation of cultural heritage. The exhibition was curated by Rehema Chachage, Sebastian Möllers, Antonia Schmidt, and Lea Steinkampf—representing both the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and the Stade Museum.
The artists’ works honor traditional Tanzanian culture by preserving core motifs while introducing contemporary themes—especially around decolonization and preservation. The exhibition explores colonial science and shows how researchers historically intertwined plant studies with local cultures. It highlights research conducted at the Amani Institute, revealing a clear power imbalance—archived diaries note that Tanzanians were often “interviewed to exhaustion.
Through this exhibition, the German-Tanzanian research team aims to create a platform for critical reflection on their methodologies, foregrounding a decolonized approach to research and curatorial practice. Ultimately, the exhibition invites viewers to reflect deeply. It poses urgent questions: Who benefited? Who was silenced? Accompanying this expansive exhibition is a trilingual publication that further documents and contextualizes the project.
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