Decolonizing Anthropology Museums

Abstract

The great age of Anthropology Museums in Europe and North America developed from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Under colonialism, in the political, and cultural evolution in the scientific, many of the great Museums of Anthropology opened their doors at that time. After World War II, however, these museums' foundations were questioned both in the metropolis and in the colonies, influencing in many ways their road to independence. Consequently, Anthropology Museums entered a profound crisis progressively giving light to their first attempts of reinventing themselves by eliminating or minimizing any colonialist expression through the development of new meanings for objects proceeding from colonial depredations and their adaptation to the multiculturalization of societies. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse these different strategies conducted by Anthropology Museums in their process of reinvention. It will focus on the new museological forms and on the resignification of colonial artefacts but also on the involvement of former colonized communities or their descendants in the museological institutions and their museological forms.