Case Study

Transitioning the Museum: Managing Decolonization at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (2000-2020)

Bruno Verbergt

2020

Museum - Politics - Management
Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy

P. 141-169

DOI: doi 10.14361/zkmm-2020-0206

Language: English

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Abstract

The challenge of decolonization in the modern world has seldom been articulated from a management perspective. Cultural management as an agent for the decolonization of museums has generally been neglected. This paper offers an inside ex post reflection on the decolonization transition process the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) underwent. By explaining how the specific institutional character of museums makes change and transition difficult, this article aims to add a much needed cultural management perspective to the literature on the decolonization of museums. The paper makes four suggestionsto implement decolonizing strategies on all levels of museum management thereby fostering an understanding of the decolonization of museums as a holistic transition process and change project.

Keywords

2020 (2)
Museum - Politics - Management

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