Exhibiting intangible heritage in a museum? The “Words of Africa” experience Sandra Bornand (CNRS, UMR 8135) et Cécile Leguy (Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, EA 2288) If ethnographic museums in their current state harm to our science, it is because they perpetuate the old illusion that knowledge of material objects is what matters most. (Van Gennep 1914: 21) We will focus on this aspect of researchers’ work that is now called ‘outreach’, and more specifically on the experience of an exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Bordeaux which was devoted to “Words of Africa” and offered to the public during the year 2012-2013. This exhibition was curated by two specialists of African oral literature with the help of a team of colleagues. Its purpose was to question the social, cultural and political features of words – both oral and written – on the African continent. As a venue for popular education, a museum is also an instrument for intercultural awareness. In this two-voice paper, we will present the main characteristics of the project, assess it and, in a reflective perspective, address the two following points: -How can the intangible be exhibited? It is a real museographic challenge to not only exhibit words and materialize the intangible, but also make visitors feel the words’ effects through sounds, images and objects. -How can we share with the public our questions about the diverse and complex ways contemporary African societies understand, organize, preserve and enhance this intangible heritage par excellence that words are? How do we establish a dialogue with the public – specialists or neophytes, adults or children – and offer a different perspective on “African” words in order to deconstruct, one by one, the many clichés often evoked? These two issues are closely related, for scenography is a construction, a representation of the world proposed to the public. « Museums are now involved