Rejoindre les rangs de la lutte invisible

Eyene, Christine

doi:10.3917/afcul.085.0012

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“…The 'African woman' is subject to what Christine Eyene characterizes as threefold oppression, namely on account of gender, class and race. 63 Up to the time of its closing, however, the permanent exhibition created the impression that there was no need for offering information on the gendered workings of, and the support for patriarchal institutions and practices in African society through, colonial structures. Curiously exposed, in the hallway next to the museum cafeteria, we find a figurative group by Charles Samuel (1862-1939), created for the 1897 colonial exhibition at Tervuren and titled 'Vuakusu Batetela defends a woman from an Arab'.…”

Section: Alternative Frames and Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Visualizing trauma: the Belgian Museum for Central Africa and its discontents

Hoenig¹

2014

Postcolonial Studies

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Fresh debates on the hybrid character of truth and identity undermine the authority of knowledge, and, as a consequence, its production and dissemination through public and thus officially sanctioned institutions. Kratz and Rassool argue that the museum, a flagship institution of knowledge dissemination, is fast becoming a site of narrative contests, producing a 'tug-of-war' that decentres values and expectations of curators and visitors alike. 1 The contestation of truth in competing narratives is the backdrop against which I started my engagement with the question of representation of 'Africa' and Belgian colonial rule in the permanent exhibition of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) up to the time of its temporary closure, for renovation, in December 2013. In an attempt to present fresh frames for retrieving memories from collective trauma, the article links discursive formations in the sphere of museology with recent debates on transitional justice, keeping in mind that the notion of 'dialogical truth' emerges from 'interaction, discussion and debate'. 2 The article comes in five sections. It opens with a tour of the permanent exhibition of the RMCA on the eve of its closing, weaving together the existing literature on the museum and my own observations. Next it sheds light on the origins of the museum and resultant controversies over the (mis)representation of colonialism in former colonial institutions. The essay goes on to explain, against the background of research on memory and trauma, how alternate forgetting and remembering of Belgian colonial rule translates into omissions and ambiguities in the permanent exhibition. The article proposes alternative frames for addressing the colonial dimension of Belgium's past and present relationship with Central Africa and eventually asks the question whether new beginnings are possible. In writing the article, I have drawn extensively from my own observations, interactions with museum staff, correspondence with academics and practitioners, and a range of primary and secondary sources many of which I consulted during repeat trips to Brussels for archival research in another contested metropolitan institution, the Royal Library of Belgium. A museum tourThe RMCA is one of 10 federal scientific institutions in Belgium, located in Tervuren, a small municipality on the outskirts of Brussels, the national capital. The first visit I paid to the permanent and temporary exhibitions of the RMCA in the course of this research-more were to follow in the months ahead-fell on a cold sunny day in February 2013. City dwellers visibly enjoyed taking a stroll in the lavish museum grounds, and visitors queued to have a peek at the temporary

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Section: Alternative Frames and Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Visualizing trauma: the Belgian Museum for Central Africa and its discontents

Hoenig¹

2014

Postcolonial Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Rejoindre les rangs de la lutte invisible

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Visualizing trauma: the Belgian Museum for Central Africa and its discontents

Visualizing trauma: the Belgian Museum for Central Africa and its discontents

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