Dakar’s Museum of Black Civilisations
Towards a New Imaginary of a Post-ethnographic Museum
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6091111 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Charline Kopf (0000-0002-4473-3471, University of Oslo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Pages | 37-55 |
| Publication date | 2018-11-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Martor The Museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1224-6271 • E-ISSN: 2734-8350 |
| Publisher | Muzeul National al Taranului Roman (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.57225/martor.2018.23.03 |
| OpenAlex | W3168189636 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 37 |
How are postcolonial identities curated in non-Western art institutions? How do the latter engage with the question of the restitution of colonial looted artefacts during this turning point where Western museums seem increasingly willing to address claims of repatriation? Focusing on the unfolding debates on restitution and heritage around the new Museum of Black Civilisations (MCN) in Senegal, the article investigates how curatorial approaches aimed at challenging Eurocentrism address questions of identity, authenticity and discourses on the Other. It finds that, contrary to decolonial museum exhibitions in the West, the MCN avoids engaging in claims of restitution as this would reproduce Europe’s key role in defining “authentic” and “traditional” African art. At the same time, this paper shows that the underlying logic aimed to subvert exoticising representations and reconfigure Self-Other relations can uphold an internal dichotomy of cultures that risks lapsing into the same essentialism that is criticised. This is furthermore complicated by the tension between an imaginary of pan-African Black Civilisations and the criticism directed towards the management of artefacts in postcolonial states where nation-building is an ongoing process. In teasing out the challenges of formulating a reconfigured postcolonial future without drawing on culturalist discourses and reinforcing a dichotomy between modernity and tradition, this article adds a radically different perspective to the literature on heritage and museums in relation to colonialism and is also of relevance to those looking at curatorial practices, identity politics and international relations
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Colonialism · Criticism · Essentialism · Ethnography · Eurocentrism · Exhibition · Modernity · Political science · Restitution · Sociology · The Imaginary · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Gender Studies · History · Law · Museums and Cultural Heritage
The Death of the African Archive and the Birth of the Museum
From Plunder to Preservation
Edges of Empire
Double erasures
The past as it lives now
From “Patrimoine partagé” to “whose heritage”? Critical reflections on colonial built heritage in the city of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Les professionnels africains de la recherche dans l'État colonial tardif
What’s in Lisbon?’ Portuguese Sources in Nazi-era Provenance Research
Cultural Looting and Restitution at the Dawn of the Cold War
Looted Antiquities, Art Museums and Restitution in the United States since 1970
Looted Art and Restitution in the Twentieth Century – Towards a Global Perspective
The Pan-African Nation
Types of Claims for Recovery of Lost Cultural Property1
Goodness Is Elsewhere
Historical agency and the coloniality of power in postsocialist Europe
Appropriate museology and the “new museum ethics”. Honoring diversity
The museum as assemblage
L'Ifan et la « mise en musée » des cultures africaines (1936-1961)
Quai Branly in Process
Multiculturalism and Museums
We Have Always Been Modern
Object Diasporas, Resourcing Communities
Chronological Pollution
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |