Aline Chaves Rabelo

This proposal aims to enable access, deepen research and expand the space of agency of representatives of the African Maasai people over artefacts from their community found in ‘ethnographic collections’ in Western museums. It involves amplifying the ongoing Maasai Living Cultures movement through a combination of two new research experiences and partnerships with museums of different traditions and historical processes: The Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (France), and the Museu Nacional/UFRJ (Brazil). Through the Living Cultures, the Maasais’ main objective is to promote actions to decolonise cultural spaces. They aim at re-establishing mastery over representations of their own history, by proposing participatory approaches and “healing reconciliation” processes to museums. In this context, healing through reconciliation is not “just” a customary practice of the Massai justice system. It represents a significant way to rethink and rebuild relationships to decolonise the production of knowledge, non-hegemonic narratives and memories. These actors – contemporary subjects – see the research and exhibition of their artefacts as communicators of a culture and way of life, often threatened by neo-colonial projects. Through self-representation, they can reaffirm their collective existence by their artefacts in order to amplify the narratives that favour their political struggles.