When Speaking Is a Risky Business

Understanding Silence and Interpreting the Power of the Past in Wanigela, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2390905
AutoresElizabeth Bonshek (0000-0002-2791-0907, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK, , British Museum, UK, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen13
Número1
Páginas85-105
Fecha de publicación2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183507086220
OpenAlexW2014248846
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas15

The increased importance placed upon interaction between `source communities' and museums which hold cultural heritage collections has been described by Peers and Brown ( Museums and Source Communities. A Routledge Reader , 2003, p. 1) as `one of the most important developments in the history of museums'. This interaction entails the relinquishment of the museum's authoritative voice and the empowerment of the indigenous voice. This development assumes that source communities would have something to say about museum collections. My experience in a rural community in Papua New Guinea revealed complex dynamics surrounding museum objects. In Wanigela, questions about objects in museum collections were often met with hesitancy and silence. It was only when these objects became relevant within the context of local issues, embedded within social relationships between people that silences were eventually broken and the diverse significances surrounding silences emerged. An approach driven by academic or museological concerns over collections proved to be problematic in identifying the contemporary significance of the collections for Wanigelans

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Empowerment · Ethnology · Indigenous · Media studies · New guinea · Political science · Silence · Social dynamics · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Museology · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Ecology