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In his lecture “From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions,” anthropologist Adam Kuper takes up the ways in which cultures, arts, and artifacts identified as foreign and prehistoric have been represented in the field of western anthropology and in museums. The lecture will address key issues from his most recent book: The Museum of Other People: From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions.
How do we think about difficult questions of race, colonialism, difference, and cultural appropriation in such contexts? What is the purpose today of museums once established as part of colonial engagements? What about the objects under their custodianship? How can related museums and museum practices help us to better understand and appreciate these cultures and their histories today?
Kuper’s lecture will be on April 11th 5:30–7:00 pm and in the 485 Broadway Lower Lecture Hall.
Professor Kuper was the recent Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, and a recipient of the Huxley Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He has authored numerous books on anthropological theory and the history of anthropology.
This event is sponsored by the Department of History of Art and Architecture, the Department of Anthropology, the Department of African and African American Studies, the Peabody Museum of Ethnology and Archaeology, the Harvard Art Museums, and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
