Things of the Past ? Museums and Ethnographic Objects - article ; n°1 ; vol.69, pg 67-80

Pieter Terkeurs

Description

Journal des africanistes - Année 1999 - Volume 69 - Numéro 1 - Pages 67-80
La plupart des musées ethnographique européens ont été fondés dans un contexte colonial et les modes de collecte des objets étaient liés de près à ce contexte. La situation a fondamentalement changé. Cet article entend montrer que nous sommes mis au défi de trouver un intérêt nouveau à l'étude de la culture matérielle. Le monde moderne, où la distinction entre « nous » et « les autres » est loin de s'abolir, est à même de fournir le contexte de travaux à venir. Les musées ethnographiques ne sont plus seulement des institution du passé (colonial), ils sont aussi des institutions pour les temps futurs.
Most European ethnographie museums were founded in the colonial context and the ways objects were collected were closely related to colonialism. The situation has changed fundamentally. This article challenges us to renew our approach to the study of material culture. The modern world, where the distinction between us and the other has far from disappeared, offers museums a inspiring context for further work. Ethnographic museums are not only things of the (colonial) past; they are also things for the future.
14 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: JOURNAL_DES_AFRICANISTES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1999
• Nombre de lectures: 40
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Pieter ter Keurs
Things of the Past ? Museums and Ethnographic Objects
In: Journal des africanistes. 1999, tome 69 fascicule 1. pp. 67-80.
Résumé
La plupart des musées ethnographique européens ont été fondés dans un contexte colonial et les modes de collecte des objets
étaient liés de près à ce contexte. La situation a fondamentalement changé. Cet article entend montrer que nous sommes mis au
défi de trouver un intérêt nouveau à l'étude de la culture matérielle. Le monde moderne, où la distinction entre « nous » et « les
autres » est loin de s'abolir, est à même de fournir le contexte de travaux à venir. Les musées ethnographiques ne sont plus
seulement des institution du passé (colonial), ils sont aussi des institutions pour les temps futurs.
Abstract
Most European ethnographie museums were founded in the colonial context and the ways objects were collected were closely
related to colonialism. The situation has changed fundamentally. This article challenges us to renew our approach to the study of
material culture. The modern world, where the distinction between "us" and the "other" has far from disappeared, offers museums
a inspiring context for further work. Ethnographic museums are not only things of the (colonial) past; they are also things for the
future.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Keurs Pieter ter. Things of the Past ? Museums and Ethnographic Objects. In: Journal des africanistes. 1999, tome 69 fascicule
1. pp. 67-80.
doi : 10.3406/jafr.1999.1187
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jafr_0399-0346_1999_num_69_1_1187ter KEURS" Pieter
Things of the Past ?
Museums and Ethnographic Objects
Résumé
La plupart des musées ethnographique européens ont été fondés dans un contexte
colonial et les modes de collecte des objets étaient liés de près à ce contexte. La situation
a fondamentalement changé. Cet article entend montrer que nous sommes mis au défi de
trouver un intérêt nouveau à l'étude de la culture matérielle. Le monde moderne, où la
distinction entre « nous » et « les autres » est loin de s'abolir, est à même de fournir le
contexte de travaux à venir. Les musées ethnographiques ne sont plus seulement des
institution du passé (colonial), ils sont aussi des institutions pour les temps futurs.
Mots-clefs
Colonialisme, héritage culturel, musées ethnographiques, Indonésie, culture matérielle
Abstract
Most European ethnographie museums were founded in the colonial context and the
ways objects were collected were closely related to colonialism. The situation has changed
fundamentally. This article challenges us to renew our approach to the study of material
culture. The modern world, where the distinction between "us" and the "other" has far from
disappeared, offers museums a inspiring context for further work. Ethnographic museums
are not only things of the (colonial) past; they are also things for the future.
Keywords
Colonialism, cultural heritage, ethnographic museums, Indonesia, material culture
Curator for Insular Southeast Asia, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (National Museum of
Ethnology), Leiden, Netherlands.
Journal des Africanistes 69 (1) 1999 : 67-80 68 Pieter ter Keurs
In recent times, the museological and anthropological literature has
raised fundamental questions about the role of ethnographic museums in the
modern world (Shelton 1997)1. Expressions such as «old-fashioned»,
« dusty » and « identity crisis » are regularly used in this context. One of the
main reasons for the problematic position of ethnographic museums in the
western world is the changed power relation between European countries and
the former colonies. Other issues that challenge the traditional role of
ethnographic museums are related to strong economic growth in some parts
of the non-western world (e.g. Southeast Asia) and the intensive flow of
commodities between cultures all over the world.
The distinction between western and non-western cultures no longer
holds and traditional style areas appear to have been much more « polluted »
with objects from elsewhere than European museum curators are willing to
admit. However, these observations should not lead us to conclude that
ethnographic museums are obsolete. Even when the traditional tasks of
museums — collecting, conservating, research and presentation — remain the
cornerstones for museum policies, there are many keys to modernising the
role of museums in society, keys to new ways of working with counterparts
in former colonies, and to taking an active role in the cultural field at a local,
national and even international level.
This article will explore some of these new ways based on old
assumptions. It will argue that the fundamental role of ethnographic museums
has not changed, and that we can find challenging new roads within the
framework of a tradition.
THE COLLECTIONS
Most European ethnographic museums were founded in the nineteenth
century, at the time European colonialism reached its peak. Some museums,
such as those of St. Petersburg, Copenhagen and Leiden, can be dated back
to the first decade of the nineteenth century, but most other ethnographic
museums were established in the second half of that century. I will not discuss
in detail the cultural background of the founding of ethnographic museums,
but the fact that European nationalism and imperialism (two closely related
phenomena) also had their heyday in the second half of the previous century,
is certainly no coincidence. In addition, it means that when looking at the
collections in the main ethnographic museums in Europe, we are obliged to
keep the socio-cultural background of colonial exploitation in mind. The new
1 I would like to thank Mrs. Enid Perlin for correcting my English.
Journal des Africanistes 69 (1) 1999 : 67-80 Things of the Past ? 69
museums of Ethnology of the western world were, just like everything else
in society, incorporated into the cultural context of nineteenth-century Europe.
Colonialism has to a large extent dominated the development of
ethnographic museums and the growth of the collections in particular. In the
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (National Museum of Ethnology) in Leiden,
the Indonesian collection is by far the largest. After the first Dutch voyage
to the former East Indies in 1595-1596, as part of an effort to compete with
Portugal in their monopoly of the spice routes, the Dutch slowly succeeded
in gaining control over the area by means of a series of economic, political
and military activities. Contrary to popular belief, full political control over
the Indonesian archipelago was only achieved at the beginning of the
twentieth century, some three-hundred years after the first voyage. A
monopoly on trade with the Moluccas, however, was reached as early as the
seventeenth century. The increasing interest in political and military control
dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Scientific interest in the
East Indies was stimulated as a side-effect.
One can distinguish five ways of collecting in the colonial context :
Scientific expedition
The Dutch king William I stimulated scientific research in the Dutch East
Indies at the beginning of the nineteenth century. As an admirer of art and
science he sponsored the foundation of several museums, including the
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, and sent scientific expeditions to the
colonies. The scientists who were sent on expeditions were for the most part
natural scientists. Anthropology was not yet recognized as a separate
academic discipline, and it was usually the physician of the group who also
collected ethnographic objects. The physician was considered to be the
anthropologist of the team because of his interest in physical anthropology.
Cultural anthropology and its theories on how cultural phenomena could be
explained did not exist as yet. These expeditions also had a political aim. The
authorities were very interested in discovering and mapping new areas,
claiming authority over the area (especially in the latter nineteenth century),
and finding new possibilities for economic exploitation. In this way, politics
and science were closely related.
A late example of this type of collecting activity is the exploration of
Borneo by A.W. Nieuwenhuis. At the turn of the century he undertook three
expeditions into the interior of Borneo with the aim, apart from scientific
reasons, of bringing « peace and stability » to Central Borneo. In the context
of the third expedition it is also mentioned that the English influence on
Journal des Africanistes 69 (1) 1999 : 67-80 70 Pieter ter Keurs
Borneo needed to be controlled. Nieuwenhuis returned to the Netherlands in
1904 to become Professor of Ethnology at Leiden University. His collections,
including a large number of photographs by J. Demmeni, are now a unique
source for our study of Borneo2.
Individual collecting act