Excavating ethnographic collections
Negotiations and cross-cultural exchange in Papua New Guinea
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4955258 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robin Torrence (0000-0001-8519-2395, Australian Museum, corresponding author), Anne Clarke (0000-0002-2273-510X, Australian Museum) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 181-195 |
| Publication date | 2016-03-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | World Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00438243.2016.1146161 |
| OpenAlex | W2345155507 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 37 |
As the product of negotiated exchanges between indigenous groups and outsiders, ethnographic collections offer a rich source of information about colonial cultures. Focusing on museum collections from Central Province, Papua New Guinea, we show how archaeological analyses of assemblages reveal strategies used by indigenous groups to benefit from their interactions with outsiders. In particular, examples of (1) attracting contact, (2) asserting identity, (3) withholding access to social spheres and (4) expelling dangerous objects are discussed. Ethnographic objects also reveal that small-scale, local communities were highly concerned to preserve their unique identity, which was threatened by simple dichotomies created through the colonial process. Assertion of variability is witnessed through the invention of new object forms and decorations together with the maintenance of traditional practices of artefact manufacture and use
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Assertion · Colonialism · Dichotomy · Epistemology · Ethnography · Ethnology · Identity (music · Indigenous · Linguistics · Negotiation · New guinea · Object (grammar · Product (mathematics · Social science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Ecology · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
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In the service of archaeology and community
Altered logics of production and exchange during the colonial encounter
Collection as (Re)assemblage
A Bundle of Relations
Archaeologies of the Contemporary World
Art And Agency
Entangled Objects
Colonialism's culture
Ethnic and Tourist Arts
Stone Age Economics
Archaeologies of Indigenous Survivance and Residence
Conflict in the Archaeology of Living Traditions
Consuming Colonialism
Unpacking Culture
The Archaeology of Difference
Exploring Spatial Relationships between Material Culture and Language in the Upper Sepik and Central New Guinea
Historical Archaeology, Contact, and Colonialism in Oceania
The Melanesians of British New Guinea
Collecting Colonialism
Knowing Things
An Analysis of Arrow and String Bag Craft Variability in the Upper Sepik and Central New Guinea
The Ethnology of the Motu
W. G. Lawes, of Savage Island and New Guinea
Archaeology and the collection
Entangled objects
Tattooing in South Eastern New Guinea
Culture Contact Studies
Malangan
Mostly Harmless'? Missionaries, Administrators and Material Culture on the Coast of British New Guinea
The Decomposition of an Event
The Scramble for Art in Central Africa
Language and Culture on the North Coast of New Guinea
Indigenous traces in colonial spaces
An Artefact of Colonial Desire
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |