Public debate: Commoning, Property Law and Indigenous Land Rights in the Belgian and Global Context (ENG)

Friday 10 December, 19.00, cinema
Doors open at 18.00 to see the research archive designed by Grace Ndiritu, in collaboration with Jubilee.

A public debate with Prof. Marie-Sophie De Clippele, historian Rafaël Verbuyst and social urban planner Jorik De Wilde - about Commoning, the indigenous perspective on shared resources and the development of cultural heritage sites globally. What can Ghent learn from this in relation to the history and social planning of the Patershol up to the present day and the sale of Het Pand? Artist Grace Ndiritu will moderate.

This debate is part of GHENT: HOW TO LIVE TOGETHER - A Season of Truth and Reconciliation, a project by artist Grace Ndiritu in the framework of Kunsthal Gent's Development Programme.

Grace Ndiritu examines how the site of the former Caermersklooster, where the interests of the different people and institutions who use or own the site are in conflict, can serve as a model for the practice of commoning. In collaboration with Jubilee.

Marie-Sophie de Clippele obtained in 2019 a PhD on the burden of owners of protected cultural heritage in Belgian law and the question of a shared responsibility at the Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles and the ENS Paris-Saclay. She currently holds a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the F.R.S.-FNRS (Oct 2019-Oct 2022), aiming to reveal the collective actors in cultural heritage law, by reflecting on the challenges and the modalities of its emergence and its inclusion. To empirically examine those theoretical questions she assesses the collective dimension of the repatriation of African heritage and the role of collective actors in the digitisation of cultural heritage. This relates to the ownership and the right of cultural heritage.

Rafaël Verbuyst completed his Bachelor in History at the University of Ghent in 2013. His research thesis focused on the role of history and historians in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His Master thesis focused on Khoisan activism and land claims in South Africa. Currently for his PhD project at UG Gent he is continuing looking into the situation of contemporary Khoisan activists in Cape Town.

Jorik De Wilde graduated as a technical building engineer in 2018 and then studied urbanism and spatial planning at the University of Ghent. He’s passionate about topics like affordable housing, gentrification, the commons and the bottom-up shaping of the city. In the past years Jorik was active in different actions and organisations like 100 Huizen voor de Brugse Poort (striving for more affordable housing in the Brugse Poort neighbourhood) and the Pandemisten (political squatting of a part of the Caemersklooster’s site).

Image credit:
Indigenous people watching the voting of articles in their interest in the Federal Constitution of 1988, Brazil. Photo: Salomon Cytrynowicz