Abstract

This article considers the role of museums in contemporary and past formations of imperial knowledge and power, and the consequences of this role for the questions of accountability and restitution that have gained new prominence over the past few years. Departing from the view that matters of repatriation and restitution should privilege the terms of collection, this article instead examines the problem of colonial inheritance for museum collections as a whole, and for the museum as an institution. Further, it argues that the museum is an institutional form lacking in contemporary justification, this article proposes that the project for those who seek to ‘decolonise’ the museum must be to end the museum, and to imagine, in its place, new ways of relating to matters of memory and identity.

摘要

本文考虑了博物馆在当代和过去的帝国知识和权力形成中的作用，以及这种作用对过去几年新出现的问责制和赔偿问题的影响。与归还和归还问题应优先收藏条款的观点不同，本文反而考察了博物馆藏品作为一个整体以及博物馆作为一个机构的殖民继承问题。此外，它认为博物馆是一种缺乏当代理由的制度形式，这篇文章提出，那些寻求博物馆“去殖民化”的人的项目必须是结束博物馆，并想象，取而代之的是新的方式关于记忆和身份的问题。