Renovating the AfricaMuseum
An overview of some of the problems and opportunities that the reopening of Belgium's infamous AfricaMuseum brings.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.
After five years of renovation that cost over 65 million euros, the infamous AfricaMuseum in Belgium has reopened its doors. Even before it opened, it caused much turmoil in the Belgian press. Bamko cran, a Belgian intercultural organization, criticized the presence of human remains in an open letter supported by several international signatories. Artists such as Laura Nsengiyumva and Toma Luntumbue denounced the museum’s lack of radical approaches to decolonization; and Billy Kalonji, of COMRAF, the diaspora organization advising on the museum’s renovation, castigated the lack of participation of the African diaspora in the renovations, a claim fiercely disputed by Operational Director Bruno Verbergt.
A few months after the opening, we take stock of the Museum’s challenges, through the perspectives of both scholars and activists on specific aspects of the reopened museum: Margot Luyckfasseel provides a bird’s-eye view of the new exhibition; Sarah Van Beurden explores the politics behind the collection; Gillian Mathys critically rethinks the historical framing of colonialism in the museum; and Tracy Tansia questions the museum’s collaboration with Afro-descendants in the renovation process.
