Museums
African Voices Archive
Philip Jimbi Katana
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Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. He is a research fellow at the Economic Research Forum for Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey (ERF) as well as at Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Poland. He works as a consultant to several international and national organizations including the World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD, UNDP, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and his special interests in research include mainly trade policy, trade in services, regional trade integration, the multilateral trading system, the World Trade Organization, the economics of Intellectual Property Rights, institutional economics, law and economics, and political economy in which he has published widely. Following a global career in trade policy, he returned to Egypt, as a Professor of Economics and Cairo University and In August, 2020 he was appointed as the Head of the Economic Authority of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). He serves as a board member for a number of institutions including NMEC, Grand Egyptian Museum, Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Fund for Tourism and Antiquities. He also served as an advisor to the Minister of Planning and Economic Development on trade policy issues. In October 2024, he was appointed as the CEO of the Grand Egyptian Museum.
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Farouk Hosny is an Egyptian artist. He initially started his career as the Director of El- Anfoushy Culture Palace, during which time he painted landscapes and seascapes depicting Alexandria. In the late 1960s, while he was on a trip to France, Hosni began painting abstractions. From 1971 to 1978 he lived in Paris, where he served as Director of the Egyptian Culture Center. During that period, in 1971, Hosni was awarded the National Prize of the Cagnes-sur-Mer Festival in Southern France. In 1979, after a short stay in Cairo, Hosni moved to Rome as Vice Director and then Director of the Egyptian Academy in Rome. He continued to paint and received positive attention from Italian cities when his work was shown on several occasions in private and public spaces. In 1987 he returned to Cairo when he was appointed to the position of Minister of Culture. As Minister of Culture, he modernized Egypt's cultural infrastructure by spearheading major projects like the construction/restoration of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Nubian Museum and Alexandria National Museum, the renovation of Islamic, Coptic, and ancient sites, the expansion of art centers and cultural palaces, and the ""Reading for All"" initiative. During his tenure, Hosny announced the development of the Grand Egytian Museum (GEM); a modern, technologically advanced institution in Giza that would house, preserve and exhibit over 100,000 artefacts. Shortly thereafter he rebranded the Department of Antiquities as the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA); a high-level council that was tasked with directly managimg, regulating, and protecting all archaeological excavations and antiquities in Egypt. In the 2000s, GEM and SCA, under the leadership of Hosny and Dr. Zahi Hawass, then became central to the aggressive State campaign for the return of Egyptian artefacts to the country. After just over 20 years of service as the Minister of Culture, Hosny effectively moved away from politics, focusing exclusively on his role as a prominent, globally recognized artist and cultural benefactor in Egypt. He creates art and exhibits, and he established the Farouk Hosny Foundation for Culture and Arts to support young creatives. He also opened the Farouk Hosny Museum; a space of memory and beauty that seeks to revive aesthetic dialogue and to establish art as a sustainable human value and a fundamental source of cultural awareness.
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Prof. Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer is a professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and a recipient of the Royal Order of Merit "Al Kafaa Al Fikria". He holds a PhD in Paleoanthropology from the University of Bordeaux, and Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR) from Mohammed V University's Faculty of Sciences, Rabat-Agdal. As both a Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine / National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage (INSAP), he directs and/or co-directs several national and international research programs, with a focus on rebalancing Morocco-Franco research relationships, prioritising Moroccan stewarship of knowledge production, and infusing both cultural and scientific dimension into this work. As the Director of INSAP, he was responsible for receiving a large collection of human ancestors from the University of Bordeaux, France that were excavated from the Rouazi-Skhirat necropolis in the 1980s, and is currently overseeing their integration into the institute's Osteotheque.
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Joudia Hassar-Benslimane (1943 – 22 May 2018) was a Moroccan historian and archeologist who specialized in Islamic archaeology, history and architecture. She was one of the first Moroccan female experts in archaeology, and made important contributions to advancing archeological research in Morocco, over her 30 years of career. She is generally considered as one of the most important figures in Moroccan archaeology. Hassar-Benslimane invested much effort in training the next generation of Moroccan archeologists, and in preserving the cultural heritage of the country. She was a professor of archeology and art history at Mohammed V University in Rabat, from 1978 to 1983; and was instrumental in founding the National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage (INSAP), and became its first director in 1986. The role of the institute includes the education and training of archeology students and research and excavation of sites in Morocco, in collaboration with the international community. Hassar-Benslimane played a critical role in emancipating Moroccan archaeology from colonialist hypotheses and interpretations which dominated during the French and Spanish protectorates, and led to the creation of a ""Moroccan school of archeology"". Furthermore, the number of archeological programs in Morocco went from 4 in 1975, to around 40 when she retired from her position as director of INSAP in 2005, overseeing the training of more than 200 young specialists in various areas of archeology up to that point.
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Phillip Jimbi Katana is the Senior Curator of Coastal Sites and Monuments, The National Museums of Kenya. He is an archaeologist and heritage conservationist who has led the excavation and restoration of several monuments along the Kenyan coast. His prolific career includes spearheading a campaign to return the sacred Vigango back to the local Mijikenda community, of which he is a member, and converting the abandoned British East Africa Protectorate HQ into a museum.
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Dr. Purity Kiura is currently a Chief Research Scientist in archaeology and heritage. She is a former Director of Antiquities, Sites and Monuments (2014 - 2021) at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). Her academic records include an undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Geology at the University of Nairobi (1997), a graduate in Masters of Arts (2002) and Doctorate Degree in Anthropology specializing in Archaeology (2006) from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. In her capacity as a senior administrator at NMK, in the Directorate of Antiquities, Sites and Monuments between 2014-2021, she was in-charge of the day-to-day operations, personnel, and management of the directorate and reported directly to the Director General. Her responsibilities included the overall management and conservation of all the cultural and natural heritage resources within Kenya. This included overseeing the surveying, mapping and gazzettment of these sites, development of exhibitions, and directing and producing educational and public programs in all the museums in Kenya. She was also responsible of all the revenue streams, budgeting and monitoring within the museum’s public spaces. Moreover, she was responsible in fostering partnerships and collaborations as well as ensuring good relations within and outside Kenya. She oversaw continuous achievement of the institution through international conventions in matters heritage particularly those that Kenya has signed with UNESCO. In this role, she was also responsible for overseeing the restitution of Kenyan cultural heritage. As a Senior Research Scientist in the Archaeology Section, Dr. Kiura’s research interests and ongoing works include projects in the study of human origins, the evolution of technology as well as human subsistence and settlement patterns. In addition, she has continued to conduct research in the study of modern peoples and their usage of the landscapes and environments in East Africa.
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Peter Adewale Jegede is a museum curator and cultural heritage researcher based in Nigeria. He currently serves as a consultant curator to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL). He is also pursuing a doctoral degree in Geoarchaeology at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria; focusing on the environmental and geochemical assessment of ancient human activities in selected archaeological sites in southwest Nigeria. Over the past thirteen years, he has worked extensively across Nigeria’s arts, culture and heritage sectors as a permanent curator, museum consultant and international research collaborator. Most notably, he was part of the curatorial team at the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History in Lagos, where he assisted in preserving and interpreting Yoruba material culture through its exhibition commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022. His restitution work at Open Restitution Africa (ORA) is deeply informed by his curatorial background and current research interests and aligns closely with his commitment to Nigeria’s cultural patrimony. His goal is to contribute meaningfully to the understanding of how communities engage with their displaced heritage and to support responsible and ethical approaches to cultural restitution.
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Victoria Phiri Chitungu is Director of the Livingstone National Museum in Zambia and a cultural historian with more than 20 years’ experience working with the National Museums Board of Zambia. She has specialised in documenting and researching Zambia’s diverse culture and heritage. She has conducted extensive fieldwork across the country, contributed to permanent exhibitions and publications, and worked to bridge the gap between museums and communities through the development of community museums in rural Zambia. She is also a cultural consultant for the Women’s History Museum of Zambia, a board member of the Lusaka Contemporary Arts Centre (LuCAC) and of the African Museums and Heritage Restitution (AFRIMUHERE), a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and a former Africa Regional Representative for the International Committee of Education and Cultural Action (CECA).
Affiliation(s): Livingstone Museum Choma Museum and Crafts Centre
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Published Work: Sharing Digital Heritage: The Case of a Digital Repatriation in the Gwembe Valley of Zambia
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Dr. Omar Idtnaine is a museum curator and heritage specialist, currently Director at Agadir Museum of Reconstruction and Conservator at Agadir Art Museum. He was previously at Marrakech’s Museum of Confluences and the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets. He focuses on colonial collections, Amazigh heritage, preventive conservation, and digital mediation in museums, and his publications explore Gnaoua representation, photographic archives, multilingual inclusion, and sustainable exhibitions. He also teaches heritage at Ibn Zohr University, and professional practice in the arts, culture, and creative industries at the National Institute of Fine Arts. Dr. Idtnaine is a board member of ICOM Morocco.
Affiliation(s): Museum of Agadir Reconstruction Agadir Art Museum Ibn Zohr University National Institute of Fine Arts (Morocco)
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Published Work: La photographie comme mémoire visuelle : L’archive photographique de Said Oubraim au Musée d’Art d’Agadir au service de la préservation du patrimoine culturel amazighe
