DISCOURSES ON CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART. AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSES ON CONTEMPORARY ART CREATED BY ARTISTS FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT IN DUTCH MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS OF THE PAST TEN YEARS

This thesis explores the discourses surrounding contemporary art created by artists from the African continent. As we now live in a society in which on the one hand there is still an institutional legacy of colonialism, while on the other hand there are active processes of decolonisation. In these public debates, museums have power over the dominant discourse in society and are thus not neutral institutions. This research answers the question of which themes emerge in ethnographic and art museum discourses about contemporary art created by artists from the African continent as found in Dutch museum publications of the last ten years, and what this might indicate regarding changing meanings and interpretations of this art in Dutch society. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to analyse museum publications of the past ten years to uncover power dynamics and structural inequalities in the language that is used to describe, frame and perceive African art. In order to gain a second layer of understanding, five conversations were held with (ex) museum practitioners and scholars with expertise on the topic. The main findings of the thesis are threefold. Firstly, the importance of which perspective is used when talking about the topic at hand, what is erased from the narrative or described in unclear language, and who has been given the power to speak about what. Secondly, the presence of lingering problematic language such as generalisations about Africa, Othering discourses and the casual use of dichotomies. Thirdly, the use of reflective language and discourse on decolonisation by museums. Museums have taken some important steps in the past ten years, as Othering discourses and other instances of problematic language were rarely found in the data. Decolonisation is concerned with researching the foundations of the production of knowledge and questioning and rejecting colonial histories and discourses. This is an active process that needs constant attention. The findings suggest that these changes are happening, but that decolonisation is far from complete. Although language plays a crucial role in this, as it can be a tool for inclusion and exclusion, the foundations of how Dutch museums think about contemporary African art have to be changed for structural power inequalities to be dismantled.