5ᵉ conference
Our fourth fifth conference of the season,
Reappropriate to redefine, reinvest to critique: Repenser le m’mouat des Ekang du Plateau Sud Camerounais et le musée ethnographique,
will take place February 25 at La Guilde at 5:30 p.m.
Decolonial parodies and pastiches: contemporary artistic critiques of the ethnographic museum
This communication presents doctoral research conducted between the University of Montreal and Paris Nanterre University. At the crossroads of art history and museology, it draws on critical installations and performances created between Africa and Europe since 2002. As part of an institutional critique that is now sensitive to the coloniality of museums, these works question the museum (particularly the ethnographic museum) as a physical space and concept, criticizing the material (conservation, exhibition) and epistemological (study, classification, interpretation) treatment reserved for African art objects. These works share a common denominator: they function as “pastiches” or even ‘parodies’ of the museum. Their authors exploit the possibilities for reversal offered by these two processes to distort and subvert the traditional devices and “clichés” of the ethnographic museum, exposing its unspoken assumptions, dead ends, and dysfunctions.
Examining the definition and challenges of the “ethnographic museum” from the perspective of artists, this research analyzes how these works position themselves as powerful pleas for a double decolonization: that of museum spaces, but also that of the prism through which the discipline of art history has been able to grasp African arts since the 19th century.
Lecture presented in French.
Postcolonial imaginaries and contemporary reappropriation of the m’mouat (costume) of the Ekang people of the southern Cameroonian plateau
This paper explores how the Ekang people of the southern Cameroonian plateau are reinterpreting and reclaiming their local costumes in a postcolonial context. By examining cultural and identity dynamics, I seek to understand the issues and processes involved in this reappropriation. How do the Ekang use m’mouat to redefine their cultural identity after the colonial period? What are the challenges and opportunities associated with this reappropriation?
In fact, the objectives here range from analyzing the dynamics of reappropriation and resurgence of contemporary uses of m’mouat while preserving their cultural meanings; exploring the influence of postcolonial imaginaries on the perception and use of the latter, and documenting the current clothing practices of the Ekang through testimonials or concrete examples. The expected results include the development of new theoretical perspectives for understanding cultural reappropriation, drawing on the work of researchers such as Achille Mbembe (2001) and Homi K. Bhabha (1994), and highlighting how this reappropriation contributes to strengthening their cultural identity. Ultimately, the interactions between tradition and modernity allow the Ekang to blend these two poles to build a dynamic and rich postcolonial identity.
Lecture presented in French.Modérator
Aziz Boughedir holds a bachelor’s degree in visual arts and art practices from the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis. He then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Research at the same institute, where he focused on contemporary art galleries in Tunisia.
Since January 2020, Aziz has been a doctoral candidate at the University of Montreal. His research interests focus on issues of art promotion and legitimization, as well as the formation of artistic networks and the art worlds associated with them. His thesis project examines local legitimization networks in Tunisia, from the protectorate period to the present day, and the imperatives imposed by international networks on these local networks.
