Ethnography - Projects
- Treatment of the body and social identity among the pastoral peoples of East Africa
The vast desert or semi-desert territories of East Africa are inhabited by a number of pastoral peoples who have adopted the generational system. Entry into this system is achieved by means of an initiation, the purpose of which is to confer political and religious prerogatives.
The aim of this research is to study the treatment of the body in the sphere of masculine activities (associated with the initiation space) and of feminine activities (associated with the domestic space and in relation to the livestock).
Project leader: G. Verswijver
Funding: Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), King Leopold III Fund for Nature Exploration and Conservation
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Cultural diversity under threat: acculturation and integration processes in the Karimojong Cluster (South-East Sudan)
The South-Eastern corner of Sudan is the habitat of three groups belonging to the ‘Karimojong Cluster’. The increased frequency of droughts, the war in Sudan and the effects of demographic pressure are resulting in the displacement of a number of communities, which are settling down across the frontiers of territories occupied by their neighbours. This process is threatening the ethnic survival of one of the groups.
In-depth research into this historical process will examine the various forms of interethnic relationships (including war, conflicts, economic relationships, interethnic exchanges of raw materials for the production of ornaments and weapons, etc.) and will highlight the reaction of the different groups to the marginalisation process when their ethnic identity is under threat.
Project leader: G. Verswijver
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The dance of the spirit's
Project on the mask societies of the Guro tribe and of neighbouring populations in Central Ivory Coast, on the associations of Guro artists who, in a village or urban setting, create entertainment masks and featuring the work of a few contemporary Guro sculptors.
Head of project :A.-M. Bouttiaux
Funded by : DGDC
Partner Institutes :
- Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Ivory Coast : Jean Derou
- Museum of Abidjan : Hortense Zagbayou
- Institute of Ethnosociology of the University of Cocody : Baha-Bi Youzan
Guro mask (Zambie) during a funeral ritual - Gohitafla, Ivory Coast, 1997
Le Musée sort de sa réserve - READ-ME
Project on the relations between the Diaspora and etnographic museums. The mask is the main theme of this project.
Head of project : A.-M. Bouttiaux
Funded by : Commission européenne
Partner institutes :
- Musée du Quai Branly (Paris, France)
- Etnografiska Museet in Stockholm (Sweden)
- Museo Pigorini in Rome (Italy)
- Musée du Masque à Binche (Belgique)
Relaunch of cooperation with the National Museum of Lubumbashi (NML)
The project was initiated at the request of the National Museum of Lubumbashi and aims to help modernise the Museum so that it can continue to play its social and cultural role in the city of Lubumbashi. The objectives are to protect the cultural heritage of the NML by means of a computerised inventory, to upgrade the archaeology gallery, to contextualise the ethnography galleries and to create a network of cooperation between the two museums.
Head of project : E; Cornelissen (Archaeology section)
Contributor : V. BaekeFunded by : DGDC
Partner Institute: Musée national de Lubumbashi : director Donatien Muya wa Bitanko Kamwanga
Relaunch of cooperation with the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Congo (IMNC - Institute of the National Museums of the Congo), Kinshasa
The aim of this project is to offer solutions for the pressing problems with regard to the security, conservation and computerisation of the collections of the National Museum of Kinshasa and to help the researchers of the IMNC to break free from their scientific isolation, in particular by means of IT and the Internet.
Heads of project : V. Baeke
Funded by : DGDC
Partner Institute : Institut des Musées nationaux du Congo : PDG and director Esole Eka Likote
