The renovation of paradoxes: decolonising the Africa Museum without restituting DR Congo’s cultural heritage

Abstract

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).