“International Workshop on Reparation”
Royal Museum for Central Africa

Brussels, Tuesday, 9 July 2019

Since the end of the Cold War, more and more specialists in history, philosophy, psychology and other social sciences pay attention to what is designated as one the most important conditions for addressing the legacy of the past: reparation. However, reparation appears as an undertheorized phenomenon and a rather crude analytical tool. Therefore, it seems crucial to question the scope and limits of reparation as a conflict transformation process.

The purpose of this conference is neither to overcome all the shortcomings of this concept, nor to define it once and for all. It is rather to concentrate on the scope and limitations of concrete practices: how is reparation negotiated in the field? By whom? What are the outcomes of these negotiation processes so far? How can we evaluate, assess, measure reparation? In other words, In which conditions is reparation effective - and in which cases is it not?

To address these questions, a first workshop will take place in Belgium on July 9 2019 at the Royal Museum for Central Africa. The meeting is conceived as a multidisciplinary platform for practitioners (NGO workers, policy-makers, diplomats, artists) and scholars involved in post-conflict settings. In terms of disciplines, the workshop is completely open (sociology, law, anthropology, political science, social psychology, history, religious studies).

Beyond some transversal topics (like the balance of power, the role of experts and the burden of emotions), one of the major red threads of the workshop will be the time factor (plural temporalities, transgenerational and intergenerational transmission).

Methodology of the workshop

The workshop is conceived as a bridge between scholars and practitioners. Its objective is neither to produce strictly theoretical papers, nor to adopt a normative stance (check-list approach). It is rather to explore and clarify the challenges in the field. The debate will above all investigate the "pragmatics" of reparation (dilemmas, tensions, discrepancies, contradictions

13:00 Welcome Address - Introductory Remarks

13:30 Visit of the Museum with a team of curators

15:30 Coffee Break

16:00 Workshop - Guest Speakers:

Capucine Boidin (anthropologist, Institut des hautes études de l'Amérique latine - Paris 3)
Etudes décoloniales/post coloniales

Edoardo Stoppioni (lawyer, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law)
Droit et restitutions

Lily Martinet (lawyer, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law)
Dépasser la question des restitutions

Christine Bluard (curator, Musée Royal de l'Afrique centrale)
Re-présenter le passé colonial - quelles contraintes?

Workshop - Discussants:
Valérie Rosoux (UCLouvain-FNRS)
Dorothée Delacroix (UCLouvain)
Eline Mestdagh (Ghent University)

Venue:
Leuvensesteenweg 13
3080 Tervuren
Belgium

Registration: If you would like to participate in this event please send an email to: valerie.rosoux@uclouvain.be

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