In recent years, revisionism in Canadian museums has created a space for the development of different ways of classifying and representing non-Western visual and material culture. Despite these changes, many mainstream or authoritative museums and other cultural institutions still operate largely as separate from the constituent communities to which the non-Western collections in their possession are directly related. This thesis investigates the complex relationship between three different types of collections of African visual and material culture in Canada, the institutions in which they reside, and the relationship to the constituent communities that have a stake in the reception of these collections. These collections include the ethnographic collection of African artifacts at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Lang Collection of African Art at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University in Kingston, and the African cultural collection at the North American Black Historical Museum and Cultural Centre in Amherstburg. As this thesis makes clear, the very nature of incorporating, classifying and displaying African visual and material culture in Western museums, which are a direct product of the colonial era, is fraught with contentions. In light of this, the growth in cultural centres in Canada in recent years has the potential to inform mainstream museums, offering new ways of approaching and engaging with not only non-Western objects, but also their diverse constituent communities. By focusing on the discourse of museum representation in relation to African collections in Canada, this thesis posits that these collections can be understood as crucial sites for the promotion of cross-cultural negotiations between African and non-African Canadian communities. / Thesis (Ph.D, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-21 14:49:24.852

Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-05-08T16:50:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Archimedes Amazonas.pdf: 558765 bytes, checksum: 74bdafd05629dbb54ec8c68f5c96d628 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva(sivalda@ufba.br) on 2013-05-08T18:30:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Archimedes Amazonas.pdf: 558765 bytes, checksum: 74bdafd05629dbb54ec8c68f5c96d628 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-08T18:30:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Archimedes Amazonas.pdf: 558765 bytes, checksum: 74bdafd05629dbb54ec8c68f5c96d628 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Nesta presente dissertação refletimos sobre os principais problemas enfrentados atualmente pelos museus e tendo por objetivo geral investigar as representações e imagens dos museus de Salvador, junto ao público universitário. Mais especificamente, buscamos conhecer em que medida os museus fazem parte das opções de lazer desse público que, dado o seu grau de escolaridade, é um dos públicos potenciais dos museus. Quatro hipóteses orientam nossa investigação: (1) Os museus de Salvador não são vistos como opção de lazer; (2) poucos são aqueles que o público sabe que existe; (3) são poucos os museus visitados por este público e (4) a frequência de visitação é baixa. Realizamos uma pesquisa de campo com dados coletados através de questionários. A análise dos dados mostra que o público-alvo desconhece a existência da maioria dos museus locais; que os museus de Salvador não são considerados como uma opção de lazer e entretenimento, nem mesmo de lazer cultural e que poucos universitários têm o hábito de visitar museus em Salvador. A pesquisa constata a necessidade de desenvolvimento de estratégias de comunicação e de construção de uma imagem institucional ou de marca por parte da maioria dos museus de Salvador. / Salvador

Ethnographic collections in western museums such as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) carry many meanings, but by definition, they represent an intercultural encounter. This history of this encounter is often lost, overlooked, or obscured, and yet it has bearing on how the objects in the collection have been interpreted and understood. This thesis uncovers the hidden history of one particular collection in the RAMM and examines the multiple meanings that have been attributed to the objects in the collection over time. The Richard Dennett Collection was made in Africa in the years when European powers began to colonise the Congo basin. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as a trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. The collection was accessioned by the RAMM in 1889. The research contextualises the collection by making a close analysis of primary source material which was produced by the collector and by his contemporaries, and includes publications, correspondence, photographs and illustrations which have been studied in museums and archives in Europe and North America. Dennett was personally involved with key events in the colonial history of this part of Africa but he also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett’s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. The research has added considerably to the museum’s knowledge about this collection and its collector, and the study responds to the practical imperative implicit in a Collaborative Doctoral Project, by proposing a small temporary exhibition in the RAMM to explore these histories and meanings. In making this proposal the research considers the current curatorial debate concerning responsible approaches to colonial collections, and assesses some of the strategies that are being employed in museums today.