The Word Magazine
The Royal Museum of Africa, Tervuren, Belgium.
Can curatorial re-alignment make good on decades of colonial propaganda?
After five years of gruelling setbacks, budgetary overruns and renovations, Tervuren’s famed Royal Museum for Central Africa has reopened its doors to an eager public, promising “a contemporary and ‘decolonised’ vision of Africa.” Is the museum indeed finally offering new perspectives on collections that for decades were violently reduced to a colonial identity? Does it reject the structures upon which it was built and around which it was filled? Our contributor Kaat Raymaekers teamed up with Elke Mahieu, a University of Ghent postgraduate researcher in postcolonial media studies, to unravel decades of shameless misrepresentation and out-dated characterisations.
Writers Kaat Raymaekers & Elke Mahieu
