ABSTRACT

This article assesses the extent to which the Africa Museum (AM) decolonised itself according to Sarr and Savoy’s criteria for restitution applied to DR Congo’s cultural heritage. Rather than casting permanent restitution as a single objective, this paper argues that the long-term process consubstantial to the decolonising momentum can break an often-misleading taxonomy down and discern its components as fields of investigation as well as pragmatic steps to rethink the modalities of restitution. The AM’s restructuring of exhibition rooms and epistemes, inventorying, digitisation and provenance studies partly resonate with intermediary restitution practices such as restoration of ethos, recognition of guilt, reparation of broken narratives and reappropriation of knowledge. Nevertheless, the findings of this research show that these initiatives can only be considered as preconditions for restitution – not permanent alternatives designed as retentionist devices – if they are accompanied with a proactive museum diplomacy towards the Musée National de la République Démocratique du Congo (MNRDC).

摘要

本文根据 Sarr 和 Savoy 适用于刚果民主共和国文化遗产的归还标准，评估了非洲博物馆 (AM) 的非殖民化程度。本文认为，与非殖民化势头密切相关的长期过程可以打破通常具有误导性的分类法，并将其组成部分作为调查领域和重新思考形式归还。AM 对展览室和认知的重组、清点、数字化和出处研究在一定程度上与中间的归还实践产生了共鸣，例如精神恢复、内疚的承认、破碎的叙述的赔偿和知识的重新占用。尽管如此，