Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-06-12DOI: 10.1111/muan.70007
Raven Begell-Long
{"title":"Radical Laughter: To be Seen, to be Heard Exhibit at the Museum of Anthropology","authors":"Raven Begell-Long","doi":"10.1111/muan.70007","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article is a review of the <i>To Be Seen, To Be Heard: First Nations in Public Spaces, 1900–1965</i> Exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology, situated on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm—Musqueam traditional land at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. Co-curated by Maria Crosby and Karen Duffek.</p>","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/muan.70007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145101051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-05-27DOI: 10.1111/muan.70008
Sabrina N. Autenrieth
{"title":"Man, Myth and Museum. Iorwerth C. Peate and the Making of the Welsh Folk Museum. By Eurwyn Wiliam, University of Wales Press, 2023. 218 pp. ISBN 9781837720392, £25.00 (Paperback)","authors":"Sabrina N. Autenrieth","doi":"10.1111/muan.70008","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-07-07DOI: 10.1111/muan.70011
Cornelia Thompson
{"title":"Curious Devices and Mighty Machines: Exploring Science MuseumsBy Samuel J. M. M. Alberti, London: Reaktion Books, 2022. 272 pp. £25.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 9781789146394 (hardcover); 9781789146400 (ebook)","authors":"Cornelia Thompson","doi":"10.1111/muan.70011","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145100964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-07-04DOI: 10.1111/muan.70006
Jaanika Vider
{"title":"Working Through Colonial Collections: An Ethnography of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. By Oswald, Margareta, Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 2022. ISBN: 978-9-46-270310-0 (Paperback)","authors":"Jaanika Vider","doi":"10.1111/muan.70006","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145100855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1111/muan.70014
Natalia Schwien Scott
{"title":"The Relics of Science: Nonhuman Bodies in Natural History and Zoological Museums","authors":"Natalia Schwien Scott","doi":"10.1111/muan.70014","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Natural history museums function as pedagogical showrooms for science. They operate within the contemporary framework of the biological sciences—presented as secular, value-free, and devoid of social influence. However, I argue the practice of preserving and displaying bodies carries not only an epistemological lineage but also an ontological one. In this paper, I consider the function of preserved bodies in both Catholicism and natural history museums, exploring correlations in their respective developments, methods of collection, documentation, and presentation, as well as the contexts of relationality between human people and nonhuman dead bodies. Through this examination, I argue that, much like the fragmentary remains of saints, these reconstructed nonhuman bodies manifest a new kind of relic, weaving together the past and present through their own special powers of resurrection, reconstitution, and miraculous healing through the engagement with materiality.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-05-07DOI: 10.1111/muan.70005
Alexandra Bounia
{"title":"Decolonization and the politics of display: A case study from the National Museum of Qatar","authors":"Alexandra Bounia","doi":"10.1111/muan.70005","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The exhibition “On the Move: Reframing Nomadic Pastoralism” was the flagship exhibition organized by the National Museum of Qatar for the World Cup 2022 period. The exhibition aimed to contextualize the nomadic past of Qatar within a broader, global cultural frame, as well as to create an ethnographic exhibition that would be appealing to a variety of audiences. The challenges of such an ambitious project, however, were multiple: representing cultures that have been exoticized and “othered” by western societies for centuries comes with efforts to overcome deeply embedded stereotypes. These stereotypes are usually both external and internal; they are convenient and retaining them becomes part of multiple agendas. How is it then possible to confront these stereotypes and move beyond them? How is it possible to present the past not as a timeless situation of bliss, but as a historical process of continuous change? How it is possible to de-colonize representations of the self and others within the frame of a national museum and in collaboration with partner institutions having their own agendas and expertise? Who is to be included in this process and how? What is the role of the different stakeholders and what are the limits of their interventions? This paper presents reflection to the above questions and aims to encourage thought on the politics of representation and decolonization. Examples for specific exhibits and processes during the setting of this exhibition will be used to support the discussion and offer a comprehensive and reflective account of exhibition making in cultural heritage institutions in the Gulf.</p>","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/muan.70005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145100908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-07-18DOI: 10.1111/muan.70013
Stasja Koot
{"title":"Indigenous Liberators, Vrijheidsmuseum (Freedom Museum), Groesbeek, the Netherlands, May 2, 2025 to November 30, 2025","authors":"Stasja Koot","doi":"10.1111/muan.70013","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This review analyses the exhibition <i>Indigenous Liberators</i> at the Vrijheidsmuseum in Groesbeek, the Netherlands. The exhibition explores the often neglected role of North American Indigenous soldiers in the liberation of the Netherlands in World War 2. <i>Indigenous Liberators</i> shows how Indigenous participation was motivated by diverse factors, from resisting fascism to asserting cultural identity. Despite facing discrimination in the military, many Indigenous soldiers also experienced a rare sense of equality during the war. Additionally, the exhibition effectively positions the Indigenous contribution within colonial histories and the postwar struggle for recognition. Furthermore, personal stories, artefacts, video interviews, and educational materials at <i>Indigenous Liberators</i> challenge stereotypes and enriche our understanding of Indigenous agency in global history while contributing to public awareness.</p>","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/muan.70013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Museum AnthropologyPub Date : 2025-09-17Epub Date: 2025-07-11DOI: 10.1111/muan.70009
Vibe Nielsen
{"title":"Public Presentations of Plants: Colonial Legacies and Indigenous Perspectives in the Botanical Gardens of The Huntington","authors":"Vibe Nielsen","doi":"10.1111/muan.70009","DOIUrl":"10.1111/muan.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In light of recent demands to diversify and decolonize museums, which have influenced curatorial practices the world over, this article examines how the botanical gardens of The Huntington in Southern California communicate colonial legacies of their plant collections to the visiting public. Building on previous fieldwork-based research on colonial legacies and curatorial practices, the article aims to shed light on an area of museum studies that has so far not been researched as thoroughly as other parts of the museum world. Through examples from the <i>Borderlands</i> exhibition at The Huntington, as well as signs recently added to the displays of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, the article shows that—although colonial legacies and Eurocentric descriptions remain present in public presentations of plants—efforts <i>are</i> being made to address these legacies and to include Indigenous names and perspectives in the text panels and plant signs of botanical gardens.</p>","PeriodicalId":43404,"journal":{"name":"Museum Anthropology","volume":"48 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/muan.70009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145101353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}