Belgian Research Action through Interdisciplinary Networks (CONGOCONNECT)

The main objective is to study a museum sub-collection [Royal Museum for Central Africa, region: north-east Congo] by

looking at it from different disciplinary angles. In order to explore the objects to their fullest extent as sources, we connect

them with other resources of information such as archives and other collections, but most importantly we re-connect them

with the populations they originated from and their history. Our study combines the disciplines of art history, history,

anthropology, critical museology, comparative linguistics and visual anthropology with the practical fields of performance and

visual arts and museum education.

The dominant research area resorts under historical anthropology, crossing the bridge between history and anthropology.

Several of its sub-disciplines are combined in an integrative way the historical study of anthropology as a discipline (in relation

to the museum as a scientific institution and its collecting, research and exhibition practices); the domain of ethno-history (the

study of Congolese societies and their socio-cultural institutions to which museum collections testify) including a contribution

from comparative linguistics; material cultures studies exploring museum collections from different disciplinary angles.

Furthermore, the medium of documentary film is used for ethnographic research, covering the domains of critical arts and

visual anthropology, re-establishing connections between the material heritage in Belgian collections and Congolese

recollections of its history. Finally, our research results are used to develop a practical tool -a game- for promoting intercultural

understanding in museum edL:Jcation, based on learning from objects.