ABSTRACT
By 1897, Belgian anthropology had reached a turning point. Whereas physical anthropology was in crisis, evolutionist anthropology knew growing success, especially in the museum world. Only a few Europeans still performed measurements or gathered human remains, while many other colonials started to collect utensils and cultural objects that were exhibited as art or ‘ethnographical’ objects in evolutionary series. Stressing the adaptability of the Congolese and showing the results of evolution toward European ‘civilization’ in fact, which could be attributed to colonial action, transmitted the very same message. According to Jacques, the absence of pure types was caused by mixture of ‘ethnic elements’ and the ‘Arab conquest’. Another tactic, that allowed scientists to continue, was to envision more conclusive results in the future. Despite Jacques’s remarkable reaction after visiting the ethnographic exhibition in Tervuren, the SAB never developed a program for cultural anthropology.
