Dream keepers : collection and display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander material culture in three European museums

Abstract

Museums are places of contest and revelation. Ethnographic objects have been too simply perceived as the trophies of colonial conquest, appropriated from Indigenous makers and owners and kept in European museums. Through a detailed examination of three European museums’ collections of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander holdings, the thesis argues that a multi-dimensional reading of the museums and their collections offers a more nuanced understanding for both museums and Indigenous source communities. It shows that colonial power alone is insufficient to explain the variations found between these museum collections. Nor does a singular colonial view describe the complexities of exchange that occurred in the process of making the collections, nor the diversity of influences and motivations that inspired both museums and collectors. This thesis outlines how many of the collectors, including government officials, missionaries and social scientists, worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people towards the understanding, recognition and preservation of their culture. They often acted with mixed motivations, at times regardless of perceived colonial interests. This study focuses on cultural material in three European museums: Musee du quai Branly, Paris; The British Museum, London; and Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin. It has two key themes. One theme explores similarities and differences between respective museums with reference to the nature and development of their collections. The other theme examines the classification and treatment of objects by museums. It does so by researching the histories of the collections, their collectors, their displays, and the role of art and ideas in the museums’ development. The thesis traces developments from the nineteenth century, when Aboriginal people were classified as a society with the most 'prim itive' of cultures, to more recent times, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art is displayed in major art galleries around the world as fine art. This metamorphosis is followed through these three European museums and reveals each country’s significantly different approaches, which have transformed over time. A more multi-faceted understanding of cultural material and the museums that house it offers new opportunities for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.