Material culture at the crossroads of knowledge - the case of the Benin bronzes voices in the wilderness - critics of empire aesthetic pleasure and institutional power the spectacle of empire 1 - expansionism and philanthropy at the Stanley and the African exhibition the spectacle of empire 2 - exhibitionary narratives temples of empire - the museum and its publics containing the continent - ethnographies on display God and For England - missionary contributions to an image of Africa national unity and racial and ethnic identities - the Franco-British exhibition of 1908 conclusion epilogue - inventing the Post-Colonial.