Abstract
While much research is being carried out concerning publicly held collections of colonial-era objects,especially in European museums, the privately held objects, and the values attached to them by their owners, remains little researched. In the context of post-colonial debates and attempts to decolonize cultural spaces, questions arise as to whether holding colonial-era cultural objects is still seen as socially and culturally acceptable, and the extent to which this affects the feelings of owners towards their objects. This doctoral study addresses this gap in the research, focusing on colonial-era African art and artefacts held privately in Belgium as a national case study that has potential to shed significant light on what are global discourses.
Therefore, the project asks the following questions:
What can be learned about the scale and nature of privately held colonial-era African art in Belgium? What attachments and meanings do owners associate with colonial-era African art in Belgium? To what extent might post-colonialism debates or other contemporary discourses have impacted owners of privately held colonial-era African art in Belgium?
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