The Museum as Rift Zone – The Construction and Representation of “East” and “Central” Africa in the (Belgian) Congo Museum/Royal Museum for Central Africa

Abstract

Abstract:This article discusses how the (post)colonial museum in Tervuren helped to create an artificial separation between “East” and “Central” Africa on both sides of Lake Tanganyika, while in reality this was and still is a zone of encounter. The exclusion of the “Arab” was twofold. First, East African objects were not exhibited. Second, “Eastern” material culture that was collected in Central Africa, became represented as imported traces of “barbary,” only highlighting the “civilizing mission” of European colonization.