Caribbean Archaeological Collections: History, Museums, and Politics
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)
This symposium aims to bring together scholars working on the histories and movements of Caribbean archaeological objects and collections currently housed in museums. We are interested in tracing the multiple trajectories as well as the changing meanings and values ascribed to archaeological objects when ‘found’ outside the context of excavations.
What can contemporary Caribbean archaeology learn from historical and recent museum collections? How can objects without proper documentation or context contribute to our understanding of the history of the discipline? How are they socially and politically relevant today? How do recent technological innovations change the ways we look at and into objects? What is the future of archaeological collections from the Caribbean from a legal standpoint?
The papers in this panel look chiefly but not exclusively at collections that are presently located in museums outside the Caribbean - mainly in Europe and the United States. Finally, the symposium aims to discuss the legal issues and the possibilities regarding the ownership and display of Caribbean archaeological objects within the framework of the claims for repatriation and reparations.
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-5 of 5)
- Documents (5)
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Caribbean archaeological collections in European museums: an overview (2016)
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This presentation will discuss the partial results of the research project “Caribbean Collections at European Museums: Historical Processes and Contemporary Practices”, carried out in collaboration with André Delpuech (Musée du quai Branly). The project is part of the ERC-Synergy project NEXUS1492: New World Encounters in a Globalizing World. Although there is a wealth of scientific literature on Caribbean pre-colonial art, so far there is no comprehensive catalogue or inventory of...
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Legal analysis of the George Latimer and Agustin Stahl collections: can we or can’t we reclaim, that’s the question! (2016)
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In 1874, upon his death, George Latimer bequeathed his collection of archaeological artifacts from Puerto Rico to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. In the early 20th century Agustin Stahl sold his collections to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. For many decades archaeologists have hoped to be able to request the return of archaeological collections of Puerto Rican pre-Colonial artifacts located in museums within the United States. These two collections are...
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The Legal Status of Caribbean Collections Abroad (2016)
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While the restitution debate has developed substantially since the Second World War – some even herald the age of ‘post-restitution’ – this is not necessarily the case for the Caribbean. Although archaeological and ethnographic objects of Caribbean origin have long been expropriated, the restitution debate has not played as essential a role in post-colonial discourse in the islands as in other former colonies. This is due to a number of reasons: first, most of the cultural objects outside the...
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On the trail of Calinago Ethnographic Objects from the Lesser Antilles in European Museums (2016)
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From the first contacts with the Amerindians, conquerors, voyagers, missionaries and so on have brought back to Europe numerous attributes of the New World: natural curiosities as well as manufactured objects. Various historical sources attest to the presence in France of seventeenth and eighteenth century Amerindian objects from the Lesser Antilles in some cabinets of curiosities. Today, paradoxically, not a single object in contemporary collections is attributed to the Calinago or so called...
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Why are Archaeological Collections Relevant in the 21st Century? The Caribbean Experience (2016)
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The late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century provides us with numerous examples of the acquisition of collections carried out by museums. When archaeologists talk about those collections, housed at museums worldwide, the discussions are often directed towards how the lack of context limits or nullifies their research potential. I argue that we need to go back and carefully re-examine the research prospects of these collections. This presentation considers several avenues for research...