The Value of Culture: Congolese Art and the Promotion of Belgian Colonialism (1945–1959)

Beurden, Sarah Van

doi:10.1080/02757206.2013.813849

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…Such was provided, in the logic of the late colonial regime, by Belgian public institutions like the Congo museum. 18 In the period following Congo's independence in 1960 the political elite in Belgium tried to avoid being associated with the colonial project and, in extension, with the RMCA. This explains why funds for the museum dried up but, as official neglect is never void of administrative intent or, as Benedict Anderson observes, both the museum and the imagination it produces are profoundly political, 19 it hardly justifies the colonial tinge that continued to hover over the representation of Congo's artistic streams and traditions.…”

Section: Remnants Of Colonial Propagandamentioning

confidence: 99%

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: Remnants Of Colonial Propagandamentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hoenig¹

2014

Postcolonial Studies

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The Art of (Re)possession: Heritage and the Cultural Politics of Congo's Decolonization

Beurden

2015

J. Afr. Hist.

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This article argues for a thematic and periodization shift in the approach to the history of Congo's decolonization. It demonstrates how debates about cultural heritage and demands for cultural restitution became important aspects of Congolese interpretations of decolonization, and argues that they played an important role in the national and international politics that were central to the construction of the cultural sovereignty of the postcolonial Zairian state.

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Culture, Artifacts, and Independent Africa: The Cultural Politics of Museums and Heritage

Beurden

2018

The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History

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The Value of Culture: Congolese Art and the Promotion of Belgian Colonialism (1945–1959)

Cited by 8 publications

References 13 publications

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

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

The Art of (Re)possession: Heritage and the Cultural Politics of Congo's Decolonization

Culture, Artifacts, and Independent Africa: The Cultural Politics of Museums and Heritage

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