
Mr Jeremy Silvester is the Director of the Museums Association of Namibia (MAN) where he has been working since 2005. Before working at MAN, he was a History Lecturer at the University of Namibia for eight years. MAN has recently used the ‘virtual repatriation’ of historical collections of objects from Namibia held overseas as the basis for exhibitions and catalogues that have stimulated discussion about cultural heritage within the Ndonga and San communities of Namibia. As a member of the Board of the Commonwealth Association of Museums and in partnership with MAN, Mr Silvester contributed to facilitating a three-year programme to develop a regional conversation about policy on the issue of human remains in museums. He is a member of the committee that is currently developing a national policy on the return of human remains and sacred objects to Namibia. He is a member of the Board of the International Committee of Museums and Collections of Ethnography (ICME), a committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the editor of ICME’s newsletter. ICME provides a platform where museums with collections from former colonies can engage with debates about decolonizing the museum.