Museum Anthropology最新文献

How are museum objects valued and who decides? This commentary explores the relationship of perceived scientific value to the idea of hoarding applied to colonial institutions' holdings. By juxtaposing the possibilities of future scientific value with the value that these objects (primarily bodies) have held and still hold to their respective communities, I ask whose perception of value matters when it comes to deciding on what (or whom) stays in these collections.

This commentary builds on the concept of “colonial hoarding” by considering how it applies to intangible cultural practices, such as language. The central processes and practices that allow language to fit within this system are its artefactualization—its ontological transformation into something tangible—and its subsequent circulation through regimes of property and access. Building on my experience as a linguistic anthropologist working with Indigenous communities on language revitalization, I propose that these processes emerge, sometimes unintentionally, from the foundational ideologies that inform scholarly work on “endangered” languages. By using the concept of “colonial hoarding” in this way, I argue that we can further the discussion about Indigenous language reclamation by recognizing the relationship to what is happening to other types of ancestors.

This article examines the geopolitical influences on the making of the Chinese ethnic minority ethnographic collections at the Department of Anthropology (DOA), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) during the Cold War period. These overlooked collections originated from two Taiwanese department founders, Chiao Chien, and Hsieh Jiann, who used Hong Kong as a node to conduct Chinese ethnic minority studies in the 1980s. After analyzing the DOA's Chinese ethnic minority collections, archives, and virtual museum data, and conducting semi-structured interviews with DOA members, the study postulates why the collections have been overlooked and discloses the collections' association with the Cold War. This article contributes to understanding the origin of an East Asian anthropology department with its understudied collections in an Asian Cold War context and offers a paradigm of “anthropology of anthropology departments” to examine the departmental history from a collections-based perspective.

This article explores the ways a work by Nêhiyaw (Cree) artist Tamara Cardinal (including performance art and a material item: a jingle dress with natural clay cones) takes an active role in transforming museum collection management. I argue that Cardinal's art, taken in context of Indigenous and museum interaction and some movements in performance art, transforms museum practice through its collection as a work of art.

This article examines the ethical, cultural, and legal challenges surrounding the collection and repatriation of Philippine human remains housed in US museums, with a particular focus on the University of Michigan's Museum of Anthropological Archaeology (UMMAA). Using a participatory focus group methodology, the research engages diverse stakeholders, including individuals of Filipino and Indigenous descent, community organizers, cultural and curatorial experts, and legal professionals, highlighting multifaceted perspectives on human remains from the Philippines. In examining materialist, cultural, spiritual, and legal angles, and ultimately underscoring the moral burden of holding such remains, the article advocates for reparative approaches toward improved curation, creation of culturally appropriate rituals, and meaningful engagement with both Philippine-based and diasporic communities. These findings also contribute to broader discussions on reparative justice and decolonial methodologies in museum contexts by offering a nuanced perspective on the repatriation debate and proposing actionable steps even when immediate repatriation is not feasible.

This article examines the Stone House Museum in Livingstonia, Malawi. The Museum is in a historic Stone House National Monument, a former residence of Reverend Robert Laws, one of the pioneer missionaries of the Livingstonia Mission. The article illustrates how objects, formerly relics of missionary heroism meant to inspire sacrifice and commitment, became “leftover” objects and were later re-made into museum pieces in the 1970s. Through a haphazard process of professionalizing the Museum to attract new publics in the 1990s and early 2000s, these objects became alienating and disconnected when put behind glass. The Museum echoed the Victorian ethos of romanticizing and prioritizing missionaries' “heroic” efforts over the stories of local people and culture. The material objects of the local Malawian community in the Museum were essentially put into a timeless past, tribal representations, and merely cast as a complementary background to the missionaries' activities. This article relies on an ethnographic methodology of museum histories, analysis of exhibitions and engagements with the Museum's publics. It reveals that the collection and displays of the local community were assembled as an adjunct to missionary paraphernalia. The Museum, despite its claims to be aligned with the post-colonial, kept its publics “out of history.”

Embarking on an adventure to tour Black museums and Civil Rights sites provides one of the best opportunities to understand history and culture. It is accomplished via an expert tour guide, site visits, as well as through documentaries, and video footage. Imagine learning from such footage about the youngest child, a 4-year-old and hearing him questioning about his participation in a Civil Rights protest; he proudly responds “for Teedom” [Freedom] that is bound to stick with you. It stuck with me so much that it became a term used in my art for brave youth involved in social justice. These acts of “Teedom” were evident throughout the Civil Rights Tour, one of the best adventures of my life.