COLONIAL, POPULAR, AND SCIENTIFIC? The Exposition du Sahara (1934) and the Formation of the Musée de l'Homme

Abstract

This article explores the collection and exhibition practices surrounding the Exposition du Sahara (1934), an exhibit organized at a key moment in the transformation of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro into France's modernized anthropological museum, the Musée de l'Homme. Through an analysis of archival material and exhibit publications, the article traces how the institutionalization of ethnographic collecting practices was shaped by interactions between museum personnel and collectors on the ground, and by the organizers’ desire to make the Exposition du Sahara, and the Musée d'Ethnographie itself, simultaneously scientific, popular, and a successful colonial institution. The account also tells the story of some of the objects from North Africa now housed at the Musée du Quai Branly, where very different modes of interpretation have been applied.