On Not Showing Scalps

Human Remains and Multisited Debate at the National Museum of Denmark

Bibliographic Data

ID2289404
AuthorsRandi Marselis (0000-0003-1894-6462, Roskilde University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume39
Issue1
Pages20-34
Publication date2016-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMuseum Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0892-8339 • E-ISSN: 1548-1379
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/muan.12106
OpenAlexW2305856420
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited12

Museums are increasingly taking the cultural values of source communities into account in their representational strategies, and that means that they now face the challenge of explaining to their publics how social responsibility toward distant source communities informs the choices each museum makes. This article examines how the National Museum of Denmark attempted to inform and discuss with the Danish public the museum's decision to not exhibit scalps in their temporary exhibition on Native American culture,Powwow: We Dance, We're Alive. Building on the new, contingent museum ethics proposed by Janet Marstine, the editor of theRoutledge Companion to Museum Ethics, I show how the museum succeeded in engaging users in questions of museum ethics. However, this specific debate on human remains in museums developed into an encounter between a global, museological discourse on the responsibility of museum institutions toward indigenous groups and a common discourse in Danish political debates that views consideration toward the sensibilities of specific ethnic groups as a threat toward free speech and rational knowledge

Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation

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