Search Results for: histories

Full Statement by ‘100 Histories of 100 Worlds in 1 Object’ on the opening of Humboldt Forum

What if a museum object were turned upside down? Our departure point is Neil MacGregor’s BBC radio programme and book A History of the World in 100 Objects of 2010. It was narrated by the then director of the British Museum who later became one of the founding directors of the Humboldt Forum. It presented… Continue reading Full Statement by ‘100 Histories of 100 Worlds in 1 Object’ on the opening of Humboldt Forum

The Township in the Humboldt Forum

Contemporary African art can be employed to make important, generative interventions in ethnographic museum settings today. Yet, unfortunate curatorial choices can also provoke readings that are troublesome and unsettling, especially in contexts where sensitivities around restitution, race and return are heightened. Here I consider the implications of pairing Antonio Ole’s “township wall” in the Humboldt Forum’s African ethnological displays.… Continue reading The Township in the Humboldt Forum

100 Worlds Reviews

A space for reviews covering the latest in museums and heritage, contemporary art and culture. We welcome perspectives from marginalized voices, minoritized writers, and in particular contributors from communities of origin. The Township in the Humboldt Forum by Duane Jethro Contemporary African art can be employed to make important, generative interventions in ethnographic museum settings… Continue reading 100 Worlds Reviews

Behram’s Salver

by Tehmina Goskar Silver plate showing Shapur II, 4th century CE © The Trustees of the British Museum Reviewing the assumptions made about a 4th century Sasanian silver salver in the British Museum, this podcast discusses how the material culture of the ancients, particularly that of the Middle East, has had all the life, humanity,… Continue reading Behram’s Salver

The Maya and the British Museum

by Diana K. Moreiras Reynaga1 and Cara G. Tremain2with Daniel Salinas3, Genner Llanes-Ortíz4, and Alejandro J. Figueroa5 1 Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia. dianakarina.moreiras@ubc.ca, Twitter: @dimorei2 Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Langara College. ctremain@langara.ca, Twitter: @DrCaraTremain3 Independent Researcher and Writer. danielsalinas00@gmail.com, Twitter: @DanielSalinas004 Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies, Department of… Continue reading The Maya and the British Museum

Colonial perceptions on the global account of the Flood myth. Examples on the primacy of biblical understanding of ‘otherness’ from Ancient Mesopotamia to 16th century Nahua culture

by María Bendito Keywords: myth, religion, flood, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Gilgameš, Judeo-Christian, Bible, Genesis, Noah, Berossus, Greco-Latin, Deucalion, pre-Hispanic, Nauha, transmission, acculturation, interpretation, appropriation. How can we explain how multiple cultures from different times and distant places have very similar myths? And moreover, how can museums present what we know about these phenomena using a global understanding… Continue reading Colonial perceptions on the global account of the Flood myth. Examples on the primacy of biblical understanding of ‘otherness’ from Ancient Mesopotamia to 16th century Nahua culture

Re-framing Photography: The Shadows of the History of Archaeology

by Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert For the past few years, I have been ‘excavating’ photographic archives relating to Cyprus and archaeology, searching for representations of locals. From my experience so far, in photographic documentation of archaeological excavations in the nineteenthand early twentieth centuries, Cypriot workers were not considered important enough to photographically portray or name. After all,… Continue reading Re-framing Photography: The Shadows of the History of Archaeology

The Empire Strikes Through: The Drawing and Redrawing of Political Maps in the British Museum

by Sahar Tavakoli There are several features that make the Silver Plate Showing Shapur II — also known as item 124091 in the British Museum Collection — remarkable as an artefact; the purity of its metal composition (94.3-94.7% silver) and the particular angle of Shapur’s foot, indicative of a stirrup-less rider. More remarkable still is… Continue reading The Empire Strikes Through: The Drawing and Redrawing of Political Maps in the British Museum

Dr Leah Lui-Chivizhe

Wingara Mura Postdoctoral FellowHistory, The University of Sydney A historian and curator, Leah is Dauareb, Meriam le with enduring connections to the Mer, Erub, Badu and Mabuiag islands of the Torres Strait. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in history at the University of Sydney, Australia. With a broad geographic focus on Oceania and the… Continue reading Dr Leah Lui-Chivizhe