We present these digital reconstructions not as final outputs but as initial visuals that can help us generate and continue conversations on the presence of detention camps in Kenya during the colonial period.
Our initial aim was to create reconstructions of how entire camps would have looked and present a complete visualisation of a camp site. We soon realised that this would be an uphill task given that we are dealing with multiple historical sources and attempting to reconstruct multiple structures in multiple locations.
Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, we realised that presenting final, unquestionable visualisations is not the approach we want to take. We see digital as an incremental process, one in which we can be open about the information we have so far and that which we don’t.
We steer away from a need to present finalised, complete digital reconstructions of the camps as experts and we instead embrace the reconstruction process as a way to communicate step by step progress in our research and findings. i.e Today we reconstruct one building tomorrow we reconstruct the next and step by step we begin to visualise entire camp sites.
To start with, we picked individual structures from two different camps in Nyeri county, Mweru Works Camp and Aguthi Works Camp. We created digital models of each site based on remnants of the camp structures today, visual archival sources and oral history testimonies from Mau Mau veterans and local community.
As we work through this reconstruction process we explore and are guided by several research questions.
How do we communicate and visualise uncertainty?
Given that we are working with different sources of information (i.e. oral history, archives, existing remains), we are piecing bits and pieces from each information source to try and form a larger picture of how the camps might have looked.
Yet despite having multiple sources of historical information these sources each have significant gaps, in part due to
- The destruction/migration of archives
- The suppression and erasure of this history in Kenya
- The modification of camp buildings to suit different purposes today.
As a result, each source of information is incomplete on its own and as we bring each of them together, we know that reconstructions will never be 100% accurate. This is especially true given how likely it is that structures were altered throughout the course of the Emergency.
The challenge for us then is how do we visualise or communicate these levels of uncertainty within the reconstructions?
How do we make technical aspects such as 3D visualisation and 3D reconstructions inclusive and community friendly?
The decision to visualise these detention camps, primarily stems from a need to create public awareness and engagement with the history of these camps both in the UK and in Kenya.
However, the process of 3D reconstruction itself is a highly technical process that can create a form of exclusion between audiences or community members who do not understand what 3D is or why 3D? This may in turn, alienate audiences and prevent community members from participating. It also risks positioning technical experts as knowledge producers whose work process is final and cannot be questioned.
Instead of seeing the community as consumers of the final digital output, we envision them as being active participants in the decision-making process towards visualising this aspect of colonial history.
To support this aim we are exploring a number of options such as:
- Holding community workshops where we can invite the public to explore, engage, challenge and contribute to the reconstruction process
- Being entirely transparent about the decisions made within the reconstruction process and all the research sources we have used.
- Expanding the relationship between the physical and digital. An example of this would be printing the 3D models so that those who are unable to interact with digital data can interact with physical representations of the digital models.
- Working with university students to explore creative and alternative ways of using the data.
Another major thing to consider is that we are also speaking to Mau Mau veterans now in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. This difference in age and technical awareness can create a gap between the work we produce and the people who help us produce it.
Questions to consider in this regard :-
- How do we communicate to older generations what we are doing and the datasets we are creating?
- What language do we use to describe the technical nature of the work i.e. How do we phrase words like 3D reconstructions?
- How do we demonstrate the relationship between the information shared by veterans and the outputs and visualisations we create?
How do we combine tangible and intangible histories through digital media?
We believe that in themselves digital reconstructions paint an incomplete picture if they are not contextualised by the tangible and intangible histories they are inextricably linked to.
- How do we incorporate the memories, the experiences, the emotion attached to these histories into digital media and digital experiences?
Crowdsourcing can be seen as a form of co-production by allowing the audience to participate in the telling of narratives and provision of context.
- How can we incorporate crowdsourced information into digital platforms? This can decentralise an expert role that primarily belonged to the institution by generating new information resources that were previously overlooked or had no way to be captured.
Moving forward
These digital reconstructions are just the beginning. The questions presented above continue to inform our work on these sites moving forward. In our first attempt to create and present them, we open up these data sets to public exploration and engagement. We know there are questions we haven’t thought of or angles we haven’t explored and we invite you to share these with us, to create an open, iterative approach to digital reconstructions.
If you are interested in learning more, visit our partner’s website, write to us at info@museumofbritishcolonialism.org or tweet us @museumofbc .We’d love to hear from you and hear your thoughts on this.
