Across Anthropology

An extraordinarily
rich and provocative collection of essays on the transformation of museums and
exhibitions devoted to non-Western arts and cultures. Punctuated by interviews
with path-breaking curators, the volume keeps us focused on contemporary
practice—its real possibilities and constraints. The editors’ guiding concept
of “trans-anthroplogy” avoids both defensive celebration and rigid critique. It
opens our eyes and ears to the relational transactions, alliances, and
difficult dialogues that are animating former anthropology museums today. James Clifford, Author
of Returns: Becoming Indigenous in the
21st Century

I seldom came across
a similarly well-reflected and convincing volume! It asks future-oriented
questions across a coherent range of contributions and conversations. This
original collection covers relevant exhibition and debates. It is suitable for
MA programmes and PhD programmes in curatorial studies, anthropology,
postcolonial studies, visual culture, material culture studies, and art. Thomas Fillitz,
University of Vienna

By opening the debate up to a European perspective, with contributions related to the French, Belgium, Dutch and Italian contexts, this anthology offers a well-balanced set of statements, interviews and experiences that allow for different practices to resonate and establish common terrains of concern and enquiry. The editors have proposed a rich selection of points of view that neatly embody one of the key requests for a revision of the colonial past that its narrative be formulated through new forms of pluri-vocality, that "trouble", and thus avoid the smoothing effect of the singular institutional voice.

En ouvrant ce débat a une perspective européenne, à travers des contributions liées aux contextes français, belge, néerlandais et italien, cette anthologie offre un ensemble équilibre de déclarations, d'entretiens et d'expériences, permettant a différentes pratiques d'entrer en résonnance et d'établir des terrains communs d'intérêt et d'enquete. Les directeurs de l' ouvrage ont proposé une riche sélection de points de vue qui incarnent bien l'une des demandes clés dans la révision du passé colonial: que le récit du colonialisme soit exprimé à travers de nouvelles formes chorales qui soient « troublantes », évitant ainsi l'effet de lissage des voix institutionnelles singulières.Felicity Bodenstein, Critique d'art 55, https://doi.org/10.4000/critiquedart.68093

An assemblage of research articles, reflections, and conversations, Across Anthropology: Troubling Colonial Legacies, Museums, and the Curatorial provides a unique and necessary contribution to recent conversations questioning the meaning, relevance, and legitimacy of anthropology as a discipline [...] Offering ongoing projects of ontological shifts and epistemic critiques, this book demonstrates the potential for decolonizing practices in the museum, while also acknowledging that representational work is not enough. [...] I would recommend this work to scholars, students, and practitioners, especially those dubious of the efficacy of anthropology and museums. In interrogating the validity of anthropology and museums, these contributors have deftly demonstrated the radical potentialities offered by these institutions through epistemological technologies and ethical apparatus, even as their epistemic existence is reconsidered.
Sowparnika Balaswaminathan, Museum Anthropology, November 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12239