Origins of the Afro Comb

The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge has developed an extensive research engagement programme across 23 prisons working with 4000 prisoners, 300 members of staff, and delivering 400 sessions in the four years to 2013. The project began by focusing on the Museum’s ancient Egyptian and Sudanese collections and now delivers new research in the fields of Egyptology, archaeology, anthropology and criminology as a means of enabling men of African, Black British and Caribbean descent to engage with their history and cultural heritage. From this work, a research project developed in collaboration with prison groups and community members culminated in a major exhibition and public programme The Origins of the Afro Comb in the summer of 2013.