The museum's scientific committee

A consultative body

Defined in the museum’s scientific and cultural program, the scientific council was created on April 30, 2018. It is a consultative body made up of various personalities called upon to give external opinions on the historical museum’s development project, on its main orientations, on the scientific content of the museum’s program, on the cultural offer proposed in terms of mediation, creation of educational materials or dissemination of knowledge.

A collegial assembly

The scientific committee is made up of three categories of members chosen on the basis of their fields of research and likely to provide food for thought or to deal with certain aspects of the museum’s problems, namely:
– Honorary members: personalities who are authorities in a particular field
– Permanent members: recognized researchers who contribute their expertise to enrich the museum’s discourse and reinforce its scientific approach.
– Associate members: researchers, academics, teachers, members of learned societies and associations who have been involved in the research and the study of issues relating to the plantation society, the history and memory of slavery, particularly in Reunion Island. These members are called upon from time to time.
Initially, the committee will be made up of members residing in Reunion Island or in mainland France, but in the short term it should open up internationally, by integrating members chosen both in Europe and throughout the world, according to the same criteria of professional practices and skills, and concerned by similar issues.

A regular working group

The permanent members are called upon to meet at least three times a year in order to give their opinion on matters affecting the museum’s activity. Small working groups may also be considered, depending on the topics to be dealt with.
For all members, an annual meeting will be proposed in order to communicate on the work undertaken by the scientific committee and the progress of the projects undertaken on the museum.

Specific missions

As part of the Plantation Society, History and Memory of Slavery in Reunion Island digital portal, the members of the committee made their contribution by writing texts on various themes. Accessible on the site, the articles will also be subjected to several exploitations: content of cartels, information panels for future permanent exhibition rooms, interactive information supports.

PERMANENT MEMBERS

Prosper EVE
University Professor, Doctor of History. Worked on slavery in Bourbon. Presides over the Indian Ocean Historical Association.

Gilles GAUVIN
Professor of History and Geography. Former member of the National Committee for the Memory and History of Slavery

Albert JAUZE
Associate Professor of History and Geography, university lecturer. Author of Vivre à Bourbon au XVIIIe siècle (2017)

Alexis MIRANVILLE
Professor of History and Geography, author of Madame Desbassayns, le mythe, la légende et l’histoire (2015)

Marie-Ange PAYET
Professor of French and Francophone literature, author of Les femmes dans le marronnage de 1662 à 1848 (2016)

Anne-Laure DIJOUX
Researcher, archaeologist, thesis subject: Research and study of archaeological sites of marooning on Reunion Island (2016)

HONORARY MEMBERS

Jean BENOIST
Anthropologist doctor, director of the Creole societies collection. His research focuses on miscegenation, medical anthropology

Hubert GERBEAU
Researcher, author of a thesis entitled: Slavery and its shadow. Bourbon Island in the 19th and 20th centuries (2005)

Claude WANQUET (†)
Professor Emeritus of History, author of Henri Paulin Panon Desbassayns, autopsie d’un “gros Blanc” réunionnais de la fin du XVIIIe siècle (2011)

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Gilles GERARD
Doctor of History, author of La guerre de 1811 ou la révolution des esclaves de St-Leu, île Bourbon (2015) and Des esclaves sous le fouet, le procès Morette (2016)

Jean-François GERAUD
History teacher-researcher, author of Les esclaves du sucre (2008), Atlas sucrier de La Réunion (2010), Les maîtres du sucre (2013)

Jean-Michel FILLIOT (†)
Researcher at ORSTOM, author of Histoire des Seychelles, livre du maître (1981) and La traite des esclaves vers les Mascareignes au XVIIIe siècle (1974)

Xavier LE TERRIER
Researcher, author of Sources et méthode pour une histoire des usines sucrières de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle : aspects spatiaux, architecturaux, mécaniques et humains (2000)

Damien VAISSE
Director of the Departmental Archives of Reunion Island

Bernard LEVENEUR
Curator of the Léon Dierx Museum

Natacha PROVENSAL
Museums Advisor, DAC OI

Philippe GOERGEN
Heritage Conservator, Head of the Department of Preventive Conservation, Centre for Research and Restoration of the Musées de France (C2RMF)

Gilles PIGNON
Curator, Regional Inventory Department, curator of the exhibition Marronnage, refuser l’esclavage à l’île Bourbon (Saint-Paul, 2016-2017)