Short abstract:

This paper examines the role of activist engagements from 'societies of origin' in creating new ways of dealing with ethnographic collections. It discusses the ambiguity of the emerging institutional openings, both in the countries where these objects are hosted and from where they originate.

Long abstract:

Recent public debates on the coloniality of ethnographic collections have had a transformative impact on anthropological museums in Northern Europe. In particular, these dynamics have been aligned with the reformulation of institutional (self-)imaginaries that seek to involve 'communities' and 'societies of origin' in exploring the histories and determining the futures of ethnographic collections. However, these institutional openings have also become a window of opportunity for a wide range of actors from the contexts from which these objects were taken to actively shape this process; and to become involved as key actors in the making of political and/or institutional decisions.

In my paper, I explore the ambiguous dynamics that public pressure and institutional aspirations to transform museum practices in the wake of the promise of decolonisation have created in the case of the Ethnological Museum Berlin. By focusing on recent instances of collaboration with communities and societies of origin, and especially the case of the Ngonnso’ statue from Cameroon, I show that activist actors and groups have played a crucial role in transforming object-related representations and practices within the museum itself. At the same time, the emerging collaborations are marked by ambiguity, as more consistent – and especially structurally embedded – ways of dealing with the demands and expectations of the individuals and groups involved are caught up in institutional hierarchies and contradictions, as well as the continued dependence of all collaborations on institutional resources and goodwill, both in the countries where these objects are hosted and from where they originate.