Paper short abstract:

The colonial appropriation of Naga artefacts in northeast India enhanced anthropology in Europe and informs recent interest in Naga collections amongst European academics and museums. The paper examines the contrasting historical trajectories, positions and modern consequences.

Paper long abstract:

Restitution claims for artefacts from museums in formerly imperial Britain, France, Germany and Portugal are prompted by a history of theft and plunder of subject peoples located at great distances from metropolitan powers. For the USA/Canada/Australia/New Zealand the plunder was internally of indigenous peoples now recognised, technically, as equal citizens and denoted as, for instance, "First nations". Broadly there are two partially overlapping flows of artefacts. The earlier imperial one was from colonial possessions to museums in Europe, and the later one from Europe to 'New World' countries (North America, Australia/New Zealand) as increasing commercial value was placed on them. Through claims by indigenous peoples for restitution, the imperial flow of artefacts confronts early imperial extortion and exploitation. The modern flow indexes monetary value more than heritage. For example, Naga objects taken from northeastern India became museum collections in the European metropolitan countries (notably UK, Germany and Austria), fuelling the development of anthropology and museology (Hutton, Haimendorf, Mills, Kaufmann). In due course the artefacts travelled to museums in, principally, the United States and other New World countries. The colonial history of Naga collections is now confronted by the regeneration of interest in them both among European/New World academics and ethnographic museums in the late 1980s, mid-2000s and currently in Humboldt Lab (2015) and Forum (2021) and by Naga communities themselves. The paper examines how the contrasting historical trajectories, positions and modern consequences play out.