Niger in Miniature: Niamey and the Musee National Boubou Hama Du Niger

Abstract

Covering over one hundred acres, the Musée National Boubou Hama du Niger is the only public, recreational space to which most women and children can go for a freeform, respectable family outing in Niamey. Due to its park-like atmosphere that includes free-standing galleries, a zoo, shops, an educational center, and a small informal neighborhood, Niger’s national museum has seen consistent popularity with citizens and foreign tourists alike, unlike many museums in West Africa. Its founders intended for the museum to portray a miniature portrait of Niger, and simultaneously to anchor the new national capital, Niamey. This paper traces the intertwined histories of the Musée National du Niger and the city of Niamey in the twentieth century, in which the museum first defined optimistic urban aspirations and then saw a period of institutional stasis while Niamey was transformed by repeated waves of exponential growth. The paper concludes by analyzing the educational, economic, and leisure roles that the museum, which was rechristened in honor of Nigerien scholar and politician Boubou Hama in 2008, plays in Niamey in the twenty-first century.