The Reimagining Heritage, Archives and Museums: Today/Tomorrow convening took place from 13th to 15th February 2024 at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.
The international gathering raised very important issues facing African heritage, archives and museums today through a series of panel discussions, addresses, presentations, workshops, and performances that went on for three insightful days. These sessions highlighted that there are still many journeys and discussions that must continue to be undertaken for the future of the heritage sector.
As a start of this continuity, the convening was followed by a series of professional meetings held in Gauteng from 19 – 21 February to take the initial discussions further.
The convening closed off with remarks from curators Ngaire Blankenberg and Emmanuel Kasarhérou. “We need to stop importing these Western ways of doing,” said Blankenberg. “In order for us to heal, in order for us to continue to create, we need our ancestors back. But more than that, we need African forms of collection and archive management, devised by and for the people of the African continent.”
Kasarhérou noted, “To come alive, the cultural heritage that archives and museums preserve for future generations requires contemporary generations to be able to reappropriate and reformulate it in today’s language, taking into account the issues of the present.”
Watch the closing remarks by convening curators Blankenberg and Kasarhérou below to find out more about the curators’ perspectives on how the convening went and where the industry discourse is headed based on the concerns, specific needs, and outcomes presented by the 95 different speakers and the various delegates who posed questions during the sessions.
