Celebrating Diversity at the Museum of the African Diaspora. Questions on Cultural (Self-)Representation within the Contemporary Museum Space
This article takes a critical look at a young museum still in the process of defining its identity, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), located in San Francisco (USA). The MoAD defines itself as a “first voice museum” and seeks to give account of African Diaspora experiences. However, it is apparent that the categorization of the Museum is at the heart of its own identity crisis. Indeed, the “first voice” notion is rather ambivalent, while the question of what that voice actually is lies at the center of the MoAD identity debate. Is it the voice of the African-Americans, or the Black diaspora communities, or perhaps everyone’s? Is that voice also plural? The answers to these questions are not agreed upon within the MoAD. This study examines how ethnocultural identity of the African Diaspora people is portrayed in such a context.