Conference: Heritage, Museums, Collections: Professionals’ Sharing of Skills between Africa and Europe | Rome, 25th-27th september 2025

The conference wants to exchange views about the better ways of considering African museum heritage in European museums by comparing concepts of museum and heritage in European and African thought and practice.

It will include two in-depth conceptual sessions with four keynote speakers, two from Europe and two from Africa, followed by two panel discussions. This session will be followed by three panels of comparative experiences between European and African museologists and museum professionals, summarised in a final discussion of reports and posters.

For collections not subject to restitution, museums face the long-term task of:

• Identifying and cataloguing works
• Verifying provenance
• Defining exhibition criteria
• Developing appropriate museological approaches (including interpretation, conservation, restoration, and education)

Interpretation challenges extend to all forms of art outside long-standing Western cultural systems. Studying other cultures helps us recover perspectives that enrich our understanding of our own heritage.

Therefore, the musealization of non-European objects in European museums cannot proceed without critical dialogue around the foundational concepts of heritage and the museum itself.

During the conference, an interpreting service in English, French, and Italian will be continuously available.

PROGRAMME (PDF)

BIOGRAPHIES AND ABSTRACTS (PDF)

POSTERS

Materials

Global Conservation: Histories and Theories (GloCo) | Noémie Etienne

SAIMP – Strengthening African – Italian Museum Partnerships | Cecilia Pennacini

 Colonial Fashion in the Archive – Object Biographies and the Musealization of Fashion Artifacts from Eritrea, Libya, and Somalia in Italy’s Former Colonial Museum | Monica Titton 

Facing colonial legacies in Portuguese museums | Maria Figueira, Elisabete Pereira

The role des communautés dans les dévelopment des musées anticoloniaux en Afriques | Mohamadou Moustapha Dieye

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