ENCATC Congress 2022 #1: Removing the colonial lens: the push to decolonize museums
BrusselsOn 19 October 2022, during its annual Congress, ENCATC organized a series of Members Talks in combination with Study Visits in key cultural locations in Brussels. This talk took place in relation with the visit of the Royal Museum for Central Africa.
The Congress' #1 Study Visit and related Members' Talk on the theme of decolonization happened at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA). The Royal Museum for Central Africa aims to be a world centre of research and knowledge dissemination on past and present societies and natural environments of Africa, and in particular Central Africa, fostering understanding of and interest in this area and contributing substantially to its sustainable development. It is in this regard a key institution to look at when talking about examples of museum decolonization. In their own words, "A place of memory on the colonial past and a dynamic platform for exchanges and dialogues between cultures and generations".
The Members' Talk involved respected experts in the field: Louise Haxthausen, UNESCO Representative to the European Union and Director of the UNESCO Liaison Office in Brussels; Julien Volper, Scholar and Curator at the Africa Museum (MRAC); Anne Krebs, Head of the Socio-Economic Studies and Research Division at the Louvre Museum’s Research and Collection Department, and Katia Segers, Member of the Flemish Parliament and the Belgian Senate, and Professor at the department of Media Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
