Venue: IFRA (French Institute for Research in Africa), Nairobi, Kenya.
Workshop's objective: This workshop will bring together researchers from French and East African academic and research institutions (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), working on museums and heritage, as well as professionals from museums institutions to debate on the question of "the politics of heritage in museums" and collectively draft a joint project proposal for submission to calls for proposal that will come out in the near future.
Topic: The construction of heritage in museums–be they local, community or national institutions–has become a question of paramount importance in Africa in the context of a revival of museum institutions, and more broadly as a result of a tremendous rise in heritage policies. The increasing number of community museums which derive from former colonial museums or are the product of contemporary local, national or international initiatives bears witness to this trend as much as the revitalization of state-led museums which, as government institutions, aim among others things at enhancing nation-building. These different types of museums are indeed directly confronted with the question of the representation of culture, identities and memories, and indirectly to various underlying political challenges. Therefore, the questions that arise are as follows: On which criteria of representativeness is it possible to select artefacts, practices and representations of the social world and nature, that is, items of tangible and intangible heritage that portray a given culture? Which type or scale of identity should these museums reflect (community, ethnic, regional, national)? How can the museum-making of culture, identities and memories avoid the trap of essentialization and reification, but rather represent embedded identities and changing conceptions of the world and nature? How, finally, can museums institutions obviate being politicized? It is noticeable that community museums, which seem well-equipped to put to the fore the diversity of local cultural and natural heritage –a characteristic that explains why they are strongly supported by international institutions– however find it difficult to put into display crossed heritage and embedded cultures, and portray societies set into modernity. Their politicisation in relation to local political agendas, or at the time of crucial national polling, is a recurring phenomenon. Similarly, government museums that aim at building a shared national culture still fragile in most African countries only partially manage to encompass the varied sub-national levels that contribute to making the nation, and often turn a blind eye to contested historical events or versions of history alternative. The question of museum choices and heritage exhibits cannot, therefore, be reduced to sheer technical problems of scenography: it results from political, scientific and ideological projected choices, as well as from negotiations between the different stakeholders involved; it also frequently results from a lack of consideration of the type of communication and reception that museums, as media devices, generate; last, how nature, territories and cultures are represented brings about effects of reality and effects of truth which, related to political and identity issues, need to be explored.
Thursday, November 22nd
French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) 08.30-09.00 Welcome & Administration 09.00-10.00 Introduction to the Workshop —HEREGO French research platform – IRD —Welcome by the French Embassy – French Embassy in Nairobi —Workshop rationale and objective – IFRA 10.00-10.15 NMK Perspective – NMK 10.15-10.30 AFRICOM Perspective – AFRICOM 10.30-11.00 Tea Break 11.00-12.00 A View from Uganda 12.00-13.00 A View from Tanzania 13.00-13.45 Lunch break 13.45-15.00 A View from Kenya 15.00-16.15 A View from Ethiopia 16.15-16.30 Tea Break 16.30-17.00 Wrap-up and organization of the 2nd day
Friday, November 23rd
National Museums of Kenya (NMK) 09.15-09.45 Wrap-up of the previous day 09.45-12.00 Thematic Teamwork (with Tea Break) 12.00-13.00 Restitution Phase 13.00-14.00 Lunch break 14.00-15.00 Ways forward 15.00-16.30 Visit of the National Museum of Nairobi
Places
IFRA-Nairobi, Laikipia Rd, Kileleshwa, P.O. Box 58480-‐00200 NAIROBI NMK Museum Hill, P.O. Box 40658-‐00100 NAIROBI