Browse Items · Reframing Archives: Equatorial Guinea's Colonial Library

Introductory Remarks

The digital exhibit "Reframing the Colonial Library: Equatorial Guinea Archives in the Museum" engages with the country's colonial library. Following the approach of Benita Sampedro Vizcaya, the re-evaluation of the colonial library demands “dislocating the traditionally central and privileged role of metropolitan texts and neo-colonial discourses in order to engage, instead, with the cultural and intellectual production of Guinean intellectuals themselves (341).” The project embraces her emphasis on re-locating canonical texts and privileged categories of analysis such as race, capitalism, empire, or nation. This way, the exhibit attempts to reconfigure, appropriate, transform, and transgress the colonial, historical, and linguistic inheritance of which 'the local' is also a conduit, as explained by Sampedro Vizcaya. The revision of the colonial library requires “awareness of the power of those sites, not only in terms of the day-to-day functioning of the empire-colony relationship but also in regard to the epistemic and representational weight they carry in broader cultural and political practices and projects, both colonial and neocolonial (343).” This way, the exhibit turns “to the potential of the archive and the colonial library as sites from which the seemingly irreversible power of colonialism can simultaneously be enacted and contested (343).”

This exhibit is divided into three parts, chronologically interconnected, that cover Equatorial Guinean colonial and neocolonial history. The sections are: "The Temptation of Empire", “Neocolonial Politics in the Museum and Conflicting Identities in Eguatorial Guinea" and “Alternative Conservation and Heritage Practices in Equatorial Guinea. The Case of the Museum Felipe Osá Angüé." This organization aims to deconstruct visitors' perception of the colonial archive and its uses from a transhistorical and global angle. Each section addresses the ideological uses of the archive both in the metropolis and the former colony, questioning the Spanish civilizational mission that still persists beneath the language of institutional collaboration and modernization in cultural spaces.

The completion of this digital project has been made possible through the 2024 Mellon Doctoral Summer Fellowship awarded by the Price Lab for the Digital Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. The exhibition portal will be available indefinitely thanks to the support of Van Pelt Libraries.

Bibliography:

Sampedro-Vizcaya, Benita. "Rethinking the Archive and the Colonial Library: Equatorial Guinea." Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 2008, pp. 341-363.

Browse Items (1 total)

Ideological Uses of Colonial Stamps

Colonial stamps of Equatorial Guinea, particularly those produced during the Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975), are a significant part of the country’s philatelic history. These stamps, created by the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (National Mint and Stamp Factory) of Spain, offer a visual narrative that reflects the colonial and ethnocentric perspectives of the era, which included representations of the mainland region (Río Muni) and the island region (Fernando Pó).

The designs of these stamps often carried an ethnocentric and colonial message. According to David Moriente and Guillermo Navarro, these stamps portrayed a landscape discourse that depicted Equatorial Guinea as a "vacant paradise" rich in natural resources, ripe for Spanish exploitation and settlement. The stamps featured several recurring themes, which can be summarized as follows:

Natural Landscapes and Riches: These stamps often depicted the lush, wild nature of Equatorial Guinea, highlighting its natural resources and portraying it as an unspoiled land of plenty.

Indigenous Peoples: The activities and physical characteristics of the Bubi and Fang peoples were commonly illustrated. These depictions were framed from a colonial perspective, emphasizing the 'civilizing' influence of Spanish colonizers.

Colonial and Evangelizing Activities: Stamps frequently showcased the various ways in which Guineans engaged in work under colonial rule, often highlighting the impact of Spanish 'civilizing' and evangelizing missions. This included scenes of agricultural work, construction, and religious activities, presenting a narrative of colonial dominance and acculturation.

Binary Opposition: The designs clearly displayed a binary opposition between the Spanish dominators (portrayed as superior and enlightened) and the Guinean dominated (portrayed as inferior and in need of civilization).

Artist include: Teodoro Miciano, Germán Calvo, Emilio Marín, Emiliano Salamanca, Vicente Vila, Vicente D'Urosa.