Confronting Colonial Objects

Confronting Colonial Objects PDF Author: Carsten Stahn
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019269412X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
The treatment of cultural colonial objects is one of the most debated questions of our time. Calls for a new international cultural order go back to decolonization. However, for decades, the issue has been treated as a matter of comity or been reduced to a Shakespearean dilemma: to return or not to return. Confronting Colonial Objects seeks to go beyond these classic dichotomies and argues that contemporary practices are at a tipping point. The book shows that cultural takings were material to the colonial project throughout different periods and went far beyond looting. It presents micro histories and object biographies to trace recurring justifications and contestations of takings and returns while outlining the complicity of anthropology, racial science, and professional networks that enabled colonial collecting. The book demonstrates the dual role of law and cultural heritage regulation in facilitating colonial injustices and mobilizing resistance thereto. Drawing on the interplay between justice, ethics, and human rights, Stahn develops principles of relational cultural justice. He challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time and outlines how future engagement requires a re-invention of knowledge systems and relations towards objects, including new forms of consent, provenance research, and partnership, and a re-thinking of the role of museums themselves. Following the life story and transformation of cultural objects, this book provides a fresh perspective on international law and colonial history that appeals to audiences across a variety of disciplines. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Confronting Colonial Objects

Confronting Colonial Objects PDF Author: Carsten Stahn
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019269412X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 593

Get Book Here

Book Description
The treatment of cultural colonial objects is one of the most debated questions of our time. Calls for a new international cultural order go back to decolonization. However, for decades, the issue has been treated as a matter of comity or been reduced to a Shakespearean dilemma: to return or not to return. Confronting Colonial Objects seeks to go beyond these classic dichotomies and argues that contemporary practices are at a tipping point. The book shows that cultural takings were material to the colonial project throughout different periods and went far beyond looting. It presents micro histories and object biographies to trace recurring justifications and contestations of takings and returns while outlining the complicity of anthropology, racial science, and professional networks that enabled colonial collecting. The book demonstrates the dual role of law and cultural heritage regulation in facilitating colonial injustices and mobilizing resistance thereto. Drawing on the interplay between justice, ethics, and human rights, Stahn develops principles of relational cultural justice. He challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time and outlines how future engagement requires a re-invention of knowledge systems and relations towards objects, including new forms of consent, provenance research, and partnership, and a re-thinking of the role of museums themselves. Following the life story and transformation of cultural objects, this book provides a fresh perspective on international law and colonial history that appeals to audiences across a variety of disciplines. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Confronting Colonial Objects

Confronting Colonial Objects PDF Author: Carsten Stahn
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191960161
Category : Cultural property
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
'Confronting Colonial Objects' traces recurring justifications and contestations of takings and returns in colonial history through the life story of cultural objects. It develops a theory based on justice, ethics, and human rights that confronts ongoing historic, legal, and economic entanglements and enables normative transformation.

Decolonizing German and European History at the Museum

Decolonizing German and European History at the Museum PDF Author: Katrin Sieg
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472055100
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
How do museums confront the violence of European colonialism, conquest, dispossession, enslavement, and genocide?

The Whole Picture

The Whole Picture PDF Author: Alice Procter
Publisher: Cassell
ISBN: 1788402219
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
"Probing, jargon-free and written with the pace of a detective story... [Procter] dissects western museum culture with such forensic fury that it might be difficult for the reader ever to view those institutions in the same way again. " Financial Times 'A smart, accessible and brilliantly structured work that encourages readers to go beyond the grand architecture of cultural institutions and see the problematic colonial histories behind them.' - Sumaya Kassim Should museums be made to give back their marbles? Is it even possible to 'decolonize' our galleries? Must Rhodes fall? How to deal with the colonial history of art in museums and monuments in the public realm is a thorny issue that we are only just beginning to address. Alice Procter, creator of the Uncomfortable Art Tours, provides a manual for deconstructing everything you thought you knew about art history and tells the stories that have been left out of the canon. The book is divided into four chronological sections, named after four different kinds of art space: The Palace, The Classroom, The Memorial and The Playground. Each section tackles the fascinating, enlightening and often shocking stories of a selection of art pieces, including the propaganda painting the East India Company used to justify its rule in India; the tattooed Maori skulls collected as 'art objects' by Europeans; and works by contemporary artists who are taking on colonial history in their work and activism today. The Whole Picture is a much-needed provocation to look more critically at the accepted narratives about art, and rethink and disrupt the way we interact with the museums and galleries that display it.

Spaces of Care - Confronting Colonial Afterlives in European Ethnographic Museums

Spaces of Care - Confronting Colonial Afterlives in European Ethnographic Museums PDF Author: Wayne Modest
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839468485
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Alarming environmental shifts and disasters have raised public awareness and anxieties regarding the future of the planet. While planetary in scale, the negative effects of this global crisis are distributed unequally, affecting some of the already most fragile communities most intensely, thus contributing to rising global inequality. The pairing of environmental crises and a sense of inadequacy facing hitherto celebrated models of citizenry informs a current spirit of the times. The contributors to this volume place ethnographic or world cultures museums at the centre of these debates - these museums have been embroiled in longstanding debates about their histories, collections, and practices in relation to the colonial past.

Enforcing International Cultural Heritage Law

Enforcing International Cultural Heritage Law PDF Author: Francesco Francioni
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199680248
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Cultural heritage property can be protected in a variety of ways, including at the international level, by enforcement in domestic courts, and through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. This book sets out the legal framework applicable to cultural heritage and assesses how this works in practice, including in situations of conflict.

Displacing and Displaying the Objects of Others

Displacing and Displaying the Objects of Others PDF Author: Jürgen Zimmerer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3111335569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Displacing and Displaying the Objects of Others is a thought-provoking collection that brings together a diverse range of contributions inspired by research from the "Hamburg's (post-)colonial legacy" research center. The authors explore new perspectives in provenance research by situating it within the broader contexts of global history, colonial history, and postcolonial studies. This volume goes beyond simply tracing the origins of objects, considering the significant impact on the societies from which these objects originate. It also critically examines how these objects were used in collections and museums and how the process of musealization shaped collecting practices. With its multiperspective approach, Displacing and Displaying the Objects of Others encourages readers to reflect on the deep connections between past and present and to consider responsible ways of engaging with colonial collections.

Justice as Message

Justice as Message PDF Author: Carsten Stahn
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198864183
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
This work is the first to examine the expressive and communicative functions of law in a comprehensive way in the field of atrocity crime. It shows that expression and communication are not only inherent parts of the punitive functions of international criminal justice, but are represented in a whole spectrum of practices.

A Research Agenda for Cultural Heritage Law

A Research Agenda for Cultural Heritage Law PDF Author: Lucas Lixinski
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1035324423
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This Research Agenda recasts cultural heritage law, emphasising the importance of developing rigorous and socially engaged scholarly research in the field. It analyses tensions and methodologies, using the return of colonial cultural objects as a key case study.

Intangible Cultural Heritage in International Law

Intangible Cultural Heritage in International Law PDF Author: Lucas Lixinski
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0199679509
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Intangible cultural heritage is the traditional practices, expressions, knowledge, and skills that form part of a community's culture. It is protected by a 2003 UNESCO Convention, and by several regional and national instruments. This book analyses its legal protection, including from within human rights, intellectual property, and contract law.