For many years, the Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA) - often called “the last colonial museu... more For many years, the Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA) - often called “the last colonial museum in the world”- had not changed its settings and the permanent exhibition was kept intact since the 1960s. After the reopening of the Museum, many were discontent with what the museum was proposing to the public. Many anthropologists and members of the diasporas therefore condemned the perpetuation of the colonial gaze in the scenography of the renovated RMCA as well as a pervading paternalistic attitude still very much anchored in the philosophy of the museum. In my thesis, I analyzed the new philosophy of the renovated museum as presented by its main curators and on its website presentation. I developed a discursive analysis of the written presentation of the renovation project, as well as a perspective from the global theories on the epistemological and ontological position of the museum and its integration of the "universal" Western museums' rhetoric. From my analysis of the weak decolonial museology and philosophy, I argue that the museum should integrate the findings of the postcolonial and new museum studies in order to engage in a self-investigation process and decolonize its curation and sciences first.
In January 2018, the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Brussels reopened its doors after five yea... more In January 2018, the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Brussels reopened its doors after five years. Its announced “decolonization” was met with strong criticisms from various sides. I report on the paradoxical existence of an ex-colonial museum in a post-colonial world and draw potential pragmatical solutions that can be implemented in the short-term.
For many years, the Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA) - often called “the last colonial museu... more For many years, the Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA) - often called “the last colonial museum in the world”- had not changed its settings and the permanent exhibition was kept intact since the 1960s. After the reopening of the Museum, many were discontent with what the museum was proposing to the public. Many anthropologists and members of the diasporas therefore condemned the perpetuation of the colonial gaze in the scenography of the renovated RMCA as well as a pervading paternalistic attitude still very much anchored in the philosophy of the museum. In my thesis, I analyzed the new philosophy of the renovated museum as presented by its main curators and on its website presentation. I developed a discursive analysis of the written presentation of the renovation project, as well as a perspective from the global theories on the epistemological and ontological position of the museum and its integration of the "universal" Western museums' rhetoric. From my analysis of the weak decolonial museology and philosophy, I argue that the museum should integrate the findings of the postcolonial and new museum studies in order to engage in a self-investigation process and decolonize its curation and sciences first.
In January 2018, the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Brussels reopened its doors after five yea... more In January 2018, the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Brussels reopened its doors after five years. Its announced “decolonization” was met with strong criticisms from various sides. I report on the paradoxical existence of an ex-colonial museum in a post-colonial world and draw potential pragmatical solutions that can be implemented in the short-term.
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