"Africa beyond Africa: The Future of Cultural, Social, and Scientific Research Conference," a part of Africa Atlanta 2014, will address several challenges that museums face today. Africa Atlanta 2014 and the conference are co-sponsored by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and the Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren, Belgium. The conference will address several challenges that museums face today, including:

• Uses of science and technology in exhibitions relative to presentation and representation.
• The changing roles of museums in communities and relationships to communities, local and worldwide.
• Linkages and relationships of museums to research across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Conference

Africa beyond Africa: The Future of Cultural, Social, and Scientific Research

Conference registrants will attend a special opening reception for the exhibit KONGO across the WATERS.

Thursday, 15 May     

6:30 – 9:00

Opening Reception for Kongo Across the Waters, an exhibition organized by the Harn Museum and the Royal Museum for Central Africa at the Carter Library and Museum

Music provided by the Atlanta Global Quartet

Day One

Friday, May 16, 2014

Global Learning Center, Georgia Institute of Technology

8:00 – 8:30

Registration and Coffee

8:30 – 8:45

Welcome by Jacqueline Jones Royster, Dean, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology

 8:45 – 10:00

Bordering the Future: Museums and People

Featured Speaker: Johnnetta B. Cole, Director, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Chair:  Jacqueline Jones Royster, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology

Response:  Tina Dunkley, Director, Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries

10:00 – 10:15

Break [Poster Presentations - viewed during break]

10:15 – 11:30

Envisioning the New RMCA 

Featured Speaker: Guido Gryseels, Director, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Chair:  Geneviève Verbeek, Consul General of Belgium in Atlanta

Response:  Costa Petridis, Curator of African Art, Cleveland Museum of Art

11:30 – 12:45

Panel:  Reflections on Kongo across the Waters

Speakers:

Susan Cooksey, University of Florida, Curator

Robin Poynor, University of Florida, Curator

Hein Vanhee, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Curator

Carlee Forbes, Research Assistant, University of Florida

Chair:  Rebecca Nagy, Director of the Harn Museum of Art

Response:  TBA

12:45 – 2:00

Lunch Presentation: Museums and Source Communities of the African Diaspora

Featured Speaker: Bambi Ceuppens, Department of Anthropology and History, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Chair:  Els Cornelissen, Department of Anthropology and History, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Response:  Hashim Gibril, Department of Political Science, Clark Atlanta University

2:00 – 3:15

Ethnographic Collections and Material Cultures

Featured Speaker: Kavita Singh, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharla Nehru Univ. New Delhi

Chair:  Pearl McHaney, Associate Dean for Fine Arts, Georgia State University

Response:  Kenneth J. Knoespel, McEver Professor of Engineering and Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology

3:15 – 4:30                  

People are not Objects

Featured Speaker: Corrine Kratz, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, Emory University

Chair:  R. Candy Tate, Associate Director, Center for Creativity and Arts, Emory University

Response: Yves Abrioux, Department of English, University of Paris 8

4:30 - 4:45

Break [Poster Presentations viewed during break]

4:45 – 6:00

Panel:  Impact of Africa on the Americas

Speakers:

Jacky Maniacky, Linguistics and Music, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Tine Huyse, Epidemiological Approach to the History of the Slave Trade, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Chair:  Thierry De Putter, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Response:  TBA

6:00 – 6:30

Closing Remarks

Guido Gryseels, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Jacqueline Jones Royster, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology

Day Two:  Morning

Saturday, 17 May, 2014

IPST Seminar Room, Georgia Institute of Technology

8:00 – 8:30

Coffee and Seminar:  Case Studies from the RMCA

8:30 – 9:45

Case #1:  Natural Resource Management: What can Africa learn from the Americas?       Speakers:

Theodore Trefon, Royal Museum for Central Africa

TBA

Facilitator:  TBA

10:00 – 11:15

Case #2:  Policy, Governance and Economic Development in the Congo                         Speakers:

Thierry De Putter, Royal Museum for Central Africa

Evans Harrell, Associate Dean, College of Science, Georgia Institute of Technology

Facilitator:  TBA

 11:30 – 12:15

Bus Departs for Booth Museum of Western Art, Cartersville

 Day Two:  Afternoon

 Saturday, 17 May, 2014

 Booth Theatre, Booth Western Art Museum

12:30 – 1:30

Lunch and An Overview of Africa Atlanta 2014

Jacqueline Jones Royster, Dean, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology

1:30 – 2:30

A Conversation with Bernard Williams, Artist

Facilitator:  Seth Hopkins, Director, Booth Western Art Museum

2:30 – 4:30

Tour of the Exhibition:  The Art of Bernard Williams

4:00 – 5:00

Bus returns to Atlanta

The conference coincides with the opening of a major exhibition, KONGO across the WATERS, curated by the Harn Museum at the University of Florida and the RMCA, and the closing of Mapping Place: Africa Beyond Paper, curated by the Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech. Special opportunities include:

This conference is a signature event for Africa Atlanta 2014, a citywide year-long series of events highlighting Atlanta as a nexus for reinventing the cultural and economic bonds among Africa, Europe, and the Americas. It is a collaboration involving over 40 partners from colleges and universities, arts and community organizations, governmental offices and agencies—local, national, and international.

Africa Atlanta 2014 is a citywide, year-long series of events highlighting Atlanta as a nexus for reinventing the cultural and economic bonds among Africa, Europe, and America. Running from October 2013 through Fall 2014, nearly 50 art exhibitions, performances, cinema, and multi-disciplinary conferences, seminars, and symposia encompass the realms of arts & culture, business & innovation, education, and global affairs. A highlight is KONGO across the WATERS, an exhibition from one of the world’s premier African art collections - the Royal Museum of Central Africa.

Africa Atlanta 2014 is presented by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts with the Consulate General of Belgium and the Africa Atlanta Partners, a collaboration of twenty-five organizations that includes the city’s premier universities, arts and community organizations, business and industry, the City of Atlanta, Fulton County, federal and consular agencies. Visit www.africaatlanta.org for a comprehensive schedule of activities.