16 Oct 2024
16:15  - 18:00

Online (Zoom)

Organizer:
Institute of Social Anthropology

Public event, Colloquium

Paul Gauguin's 'umete

Presentation by Nicholas Thomas, University of Cambridge

Renewed debate about heritage, heritage justice, and the return of artefacts to nations and communities of origin has given artefacts from Oceania and other regions across the global South new public and academic prominence. Collections that have long been in storage are increasingly foci for research projects, engagement on the part of communities, and political contention. These debates, and new museum protocols often assume that things have fixed cultural and historical identities. This talk explores artefacts that do not, that foreground the interplay of Polynesian and European art traditions in contexts of colonial interaction in the late 19th century. It addresses 'umete, Polynesian food vessels from the late nineteenth century, including examples decorated and/or depicted by Paul Gauguin—which may demand new approaches to the curation and narration of art histories and cultural diversity today.

 

Please contact Sandra Burri (s.burri@unibas.ch) to get the zoom link.


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