According to rapper Akwasi, the Africa Museum in Berg en Dal has been overtaken by the speed of time. According to him it is no longer credible that the management of the museum consists exclusively of white, European men, while there is no representation from the African diaspora.
The rapper believes that the management should consider resigning if the museum really wants to move forward. Akwasi makes this statement in an online speech for the Heritage Festival Gelderland. At the invitation of the festival, he spent a week in the summer at the museum, which recently hit the headlines when a French activist stole a Congolese statue, which he believes was of his people because it was taken back in the days of slavery.
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Missionary work in Africa
The Africa Museum was founded in 1954 by fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. They wanted to show what their missionary work in Africa looked like. Since 2014, the museum has been part of the National Museum of World Cultures and is no longer a mission museum. But especially the outdoor museum with huts from Ghana, Lesoto, Mali and Benin is still seen as very colonial. The management is working on a plan to bring the park closer to contemporary Africa.
“The question is whether the museum can continue to exist in its current form,” says Akwasi. “The museum now confirms the image that Africans live in underdeveloped, simple and primitive conditions. While Africa is currently the most thriving continent in the world. It takes quite a turnaround. The managers have to ask themselves whether they are in the right place. ”
Also read: Activists steal figurine from Africa Museum in Berg en Dal
‘You Can’t Be Perfect’
Akwasi thinks the Africa Museum can be a “wonderful hub of flowery, universal and inspiring stories”. He wants to help with what he thinks is necessary change. “You can’t be perfect, but you can do better,” said the rapper.
Wayne Modest, deputy director of the National Museum of World Cultures, which includes the Africa Museum, calls Akwasi’s argument “a story in line with the road the Africa Museum has already taken, but which still needs a lot of work to be done”. According to Modest, the criticism makes the museum stronger and better and ultimately into the museum it aims to be. “So we thank him and let’s work together to make it better.”
ANP
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