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Did you know that 125 years ago, Congolese individuals were put on display in Tervuren’s Warande park? The new temporary exhibition highlights the phenomenon of persons presented as living exhibits. Did this involve Black individuals only? What impact did human zoos have on our current view? Why is the AfricaMuseum presenting this exhibit?
Katrien Vanderschoot (VRT journalist) holds a discussion with Guido Gryseels (AfricaMuseum director), curators and historians Pascal Blanchard (Groupe de recherche Achac), Maarten Couttenier and Mathieu Zana Etambala (AfricaMuseum), artist Teddy Mazina and exhibition team members Salomé Ysebaert and Marie-Reine Iyumva (AfricaMuseum).
As part of the exhibition Human Zoo. The age of colonial exhibitions, the AfricaMuseum presents a series of discussions on the exhibition, (de)colonisation and (anti)racism.
Sixty years ago, on 13 October 1961, Prince Louis Rwagasore, who had just been elected Prime Minister of Burundi, was assassinated while dining in a restaurant. At the time, Burundi was a territory under Belgian rule. In his book Meurtre au Burundi, Ludo De Witte examines this assassination and the role played by the Belgian administration in Burundi, the Belgian government and King Baudouin.
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About the speaker
Ludo De Witte is a sociologist and author of several books, including De moord op Lumumba.
This MuseumTalk will be hosted by Burundian photojournalist Teddy Mazina.
Provenance research is one of the museum's priorities. Its aim is to study the circumstances in which the collections were acquired, mainly during the colonial period.
In the framework of a scientific residency, Prof. Placide Mumbembele Sanger (University of Kinshasa) is studying the provenance of Yaka masks kept in the AfricaMuseum.
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Programme:
Welcome by Guido Gryseels, Director General of the AfricaMuseum (5')
Introduction by Thomas Dermine, Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments, in charge of Science Policy, on his approach regarding the restitution of objects in the context of the colonial past between the Belgian State and the Democratic Republic of Congo (15')
Lecture by Prof. Placide Mumbembele Sanger, University of Kinshasa: Recherche de provenance : quels enjeux pour les collections ethnographiques de l'AfricaMuseum acquises durant la période coloniale (40')
Questions from the audience (20')
About the speaker
Placide Mumbembele Sanger holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the Université libre de Bruxelles where he defended a PhD thesis in 2015 entitled, Les musées, témoins de la politique culturelle, de l'époque coloniale à nos jours, en République démocratique du Congo. He currently teaches the history of museums in Congo at the University of Kinshasa. His research deals with the issue of museums and cultural heritage in the African (post)colonial context. His current interest is in the issue of restitution of cultural property between Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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In 1921, Simon Kimbangu found his vocation and began to preach on the fate of the Lower Congo. He protested against colonisation and founded a religious movement that quickly gained thousands of followers. Arrested by the colonial administration, Kimbangu died in prison in Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) in 1951. Today, the Kimbanguist Church is a major religious movement and Nkamba, Kimbangu's birthplace, is considered the new Jerusalem.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Kimbanguist Church, Mathieu Zana Etambala talks about the life of Simon Kimbangu and the impact of Kimbanguism today.
About the speaker
Until his retirement in 2020, Mathieu Zana Etambala was a historian at the Royal Museum for Central Africa and a professor at the KU Leuven, where he taught African and colonial history. He is a member of the group of experts assisting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Since February 2021, he is professor of African history at Ghent University.
Portrait of Simon Kimbangu. CP.2011.1.1, collection RMCA Tervuren All rights reserved
One hundred years ago, during the colonial era, Congolese art and utensils came into the possession of the city of Antwerp for the first time. These objects are now part of the collection of MAS | Museum aan de stroom.
Following this project, curator Els De Palmenaer and co-curator Nadia Nsayi will give an insight into the creation of this temporary exhibition, which focuses on 100 objects. What can the visitor expect? And how did the MAS collaborate for this project in Belgium and in Congo?
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About the speakers
Els De Palmenaer is curator of the African collection at the MAS. After specialising in art history and antiquities with a focus on Africa, she worked as a researcher in the ethnography section of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in the 1990s. In 2000, she moved to the Antwerp Ethnographic Museum, where she was appointed Africa curator. In 2009, the former Ethnographic Museum was integrated into the MAS, which opened to the public in 2011. She is curator of the temporary exhibition '100xCongo' and editor of the accompanying catalogue.
Nadia Nsayi is a Belgian-Congolese political scientist. She worked as a policy officer Congo at Broederlijk Delen and Pax Christi. Since 2019 she has been a curator of image at the MAS. In 2020 she released her book Dochter van de dekolonisatie.
Photo: Dries Luyten
The exhibition 100 x Congo can still be seen at the MAS in Antwerp until 12.09.2021.
The AfricaMuseum has contributed to this temporary MAS exhibition by exceptionally lending two objects from its permanent display from October 2020 to March 2021, as well as co-financing the French translation of the Dutch accompanying book.
A history in documents from the Henry Morton Stanley archives
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Language
In English
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MuseumTalks
Mathilde Leduc-Grimaldi
In this MuseumTalk, Mathilde Leduc-Grimaldi presents her and James L. Newman’s latest book Finding Dr. Livingstone. A History in Documents from the Henry Morton Stanley Archives.
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This eye-opening perspective on Stanley’s expedition reveals new details about the Victorian traveler and his African crew on the brink of the colonial Scramble for Africa.
In 1871, Welsh journalist Henry M. Stanley travelled to Zanzibar in search of the “missing” Scottish doctor and missionary David Livingstone. A year later, Stanley emerged to announce that he had “found” and met with Livingstone on Lake Tanganyika. His alleged utterance there, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume,” was one of the most famous phrases of the nineteenth century, and Stanley’s book, How I Found Livingstone, became an international bestseller.
In this volume Mathilde Leduc-Grimaldi and James L. Newman transcribed and annotated the entirety of Stanley’s documentation available in the Stanley Archives held in trust at the RMCA on behalf of the King Baudouin Foundation. For the first time in print, a broader narrative of Stanley’s journey is now accessible that includes never-before-seen primary source documents—worker contracts, vernacular plant names, maps, ruminations on life, correspondence, lines of poetry, bills of lading—all scribbled in his field notebooks.
Finding Dr. Livingstone is a crucial resource for those interested in exploration and colonization in the Victorian era, the scientific knowledge of the time, and the peoples and conditions of Tanzania prior to its colonization by Germany.
About the speaker
Mathilde Leduc-Grimaldi is curator of the Henry M. Stanley Archives and Collections at the Royal Museum for Central Africa. With Pr. James L. Newman, she edited Adventures of an American Traveller in Turkey, by Henry Morton Stanley. Her past exhibitions include Dr Livingstone, I presume? (2013). She is in charge of archives and history training programs for graduate students, archivists, and librarians from Central Africa.
MuseumTalks
Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.
Film in French with English subtitles, discussion in French.
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MuseumTalks
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The film Through the Eyes presents two musical practices from oral traditions: the Elombo ceremony in Gabon and the Carnaval de Binche in Belgium.
The film takes the same approach to these two rituals practiced on different continents. In doing so, it aims to address the question of the representation of culture through music, highlighting the differences and above all the similarities that exist between these two traditions.
The screening of the film Through the Eyes is followed by a discussion in the presence of the directors and members of the RIETMA project, the project within which the film was made.
The film Through the Eyes is a product of the RIETMA project – Réseau international d’Étude des Tradition musicales africaines (International Network for the Study of African Musical Traditions). The aim of the project was to bring together the views of Africanologists and cultural professionals, Africans and Europeans, in order to compare musical representations from oral traditions. The objective was to propose a model of representation of traditions that is not only descriptive but also inclusive in order to prevent any form of exoticism or cultural reduction.
Members of the project :
Rémy Jadinon - Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren (Belgium)
Arnold Aganze, Derek Debru - Nyege Nyege Festival, Jinja (Uganda)
Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.
Une diversité menacée par les activités anthropiques
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Language
In French
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Summary
MuseumTalks
Bauchet Katemo Manda
The Upemba National Park, in the south of DR Congo, is home to a great diversity of fish estimated at 235 species, 33 of which are endemic. Unfortunately, various increasingly growing anthropogenic activities, including large-scale fishing with mosquito nets and the construction of a large hydroelectric dam, threaten the survival of several species and the sustainability of fisheries. Currently, the Upemba National Park has an updated inventory of fish species and good documentation of threats. Researchers and managers are working on producing for the first time a conservation and sustainable management plan for this rich ichthyofauna.
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About the speaker
Dr. Bauchet Katemo Manda is a lecturer-researcher at the University of Lubumbashi in south-eastern DR Congo. He is also a collaborator of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in the framework of the MbiSa II project. He conducts his research within the framework of studies on the diversity and ecology of fish in the Congo Basin.
Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.
Mabele eleki lola ! The earth, brighter than paradise
Hour info
5.00 p.m.
Language
In French
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Freddy Tsimba, In Koli Jean Bofane & Nadia Yala Kisukidi
Moderator : Ayoko Mensah
This panel discusses the work of Freddy Tsimba, his dialogue with objects from the AfricaMuseum's collections and the curatorial questions this has raised.
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Freddy Bienvenu Tsimba (Kinshasa, 1967) is known and renowned in Kinshasa and the international art scene. He works with bronze and scrap metal. The independent and engaged Congolese artist is deeply attached to human rights, particularly those of the most fragile ‒ mothers and children. Tsimba is famous for his sculptures made from casings and cartridges and for his machete houses. He has participated in several editions of the Biennale de Dakar (2002, 2006 and 2008) as well as group exhibitions such as The Divine Comedy (2014), Kongo am Rhein (Basel, 2017) and Afriques Capitales (Lille, 2017) under the aegis of Simon Njami.
In Koli Jean Bofane, writer and curator of the exhibition Mabele eleki lola! The earth, brighter than paradise
In Koli Jean Bofane (Mbandaka, 1954) is a Congolese writer and exhibit curator. His books have won several prizes and been translated into several languages. They include Pourquoi le lion n’est plus le roi des animaux (Gallimard Jeunesse, 1996) and Mathématiques congolaises (2008), Congo Inc. Le Testament de Bismarck (2014 ; Congo Inc. Bismarck’s Testament, Indiana University Press, 2018) and La Belle de Casa (2018), all published by Actes Sud. In his work, he tackles the themes of globalization and social and political violence in post-colonial African societies, particularly in Central Africa.
Nadia Yala Kisukidi is lecturer in philosophy at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis. She was Vice-President of the Collège International de Philosophie (2014-2016) and Programme Director at the CIPh (2013-2019). Member of the editorial committee of the journal Critical Time (Duke University) and of the Cahiers d'études africaines (CNRS, Ehess), she is currently co-curator of the Yango II Biennale in Kinshasa, DRC, which will be held from 5 November to 5 December 2021.
Nadia Yala Kisukidi is a specialist in contemporary French philosophy and Africana philosophy. She has published several books (individual or collective) and numerous articles.
Ayoko Mensah is a cultural expert and artistic programmer. Since 2016, she has been working for the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels. Of Togolese heritage, born in France in 1968, Mensah graduated in cultural management, literature and journalism in France. She has worked as an expert for several international organisations and cultural institutions (including UNESCO, the European Commission, the Africa Caribbean Pacific Group, AfricaMuseum,Tervuren). She has also written more than a hundred articles and co-authored several books.
Identité, langue et culture chez les jeunes de la deuxième génération de migration congolaise en Belgique
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Language
In French
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MuseumTalks
Priscilla Kasongo Dioso
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The experience of migration can cause identity and/or language disturbances. In order to manage these disturbances, migrants can be led to develop strategies. These strategies were at the heart of Priscilla Kasongo's doctoral research, carried out at the Université catholique de Louvain between 2014 and 2020.
During her thesis, she analysed the language practices of young people of the second generation of Congolese migration (D.R. Congo) in Belgium, in order to identify the identity strategies they put in place, and to establish the profiles corresponding to these strategies.
During this communication, Priscilla Kasongo will present her research results, in particular the intercultural identity construction schema that she has constructed, a schema in which the Belgian-Congolese identity is central and broken down into several sub-profiles (radical or multicultural, convergent or divergent).
About the speaker
Recently graduated from the Université catholique de Louvain, Dr Priscilla Kasongo Dioso is mainly interested in intercultural issues related to the Congolese diasporas (D.R. Congo) in the world, more particularly in their identity, language and sociolinguistic aspects.
Her publications at Éditions L'Harmattan and Éditions Universitaires Européennes bear witness to this. In addition, her documentary, produced in collaboration with the non-profit organisation Be Pax, explores the theme of the transnational activities of the Belgian-Congolese:
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MuseumTalks
Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.
