Nieuws Agenda
Based on hundreds of oral history interviews
 

There is hardly a more troubled nation at the beginning of the twenty-first century than Congo, the giant country in the heart of Africa, bursting with resources indispensable in our modern age – as well as horrific conflicts. How could Belgium’s former, relatively peaceful colony, independent since 1960, change so much?”

 

David Van Reybrouck describes the bewildering history of Congo, from well before the arrival of the explorer Stanley to the influence of China in the last decade and the recent economic crisis. Van Reybrouck draws not only on rare archival material and groundbreaking research, but above all on hundreds of oral history interviews he conducted with Congolese people. His eyewitnesses range from centenarians to child soldiers, from rebel leaders to smugglers, from ministers to cassava sellers. Their stories the author has integrated into his great history.

 

More information on the book and David van Reybrouck can be found here

October 4, 2022 marks exactly thirty years since a Boeing 747 of airline El Al crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in Amsterdam’s Bijlmermeer. A devastating event that many people still carry with them today. The exhibition reflects the feelings that Amsterdammers have about the disaster. How do they remember it? And how do different generations process this trauma?
 

 

Opening September 25, 2022, this small exhibition is part of the Collecting the City project. This project sees the Amsterdam Museum “collecting” and presenting the stories and objects of today’s city together with communities, individuals and institutions from Amsterdam.

 

More info about the exposition

 

From August 19 to September 9, 2022, House of HIV launched an exhibition on 40 years of community initiatives in the Netherlands. Divided over a number of locations in Amsterdam, rooms were filled with personal stories from the various HIV-affected communities.