Bringing together a retheorization of the “contact zone” (Pratt 1992; Clifford 1997) and the idea of hybridity, this article uses these concepts as analytic tools to raise questions about the meaning and materiality of objects in the collections at the Manchester Museum. Through a series of case studies I illustrate how connections spanning centuries between West Africa and the northwest of England are embodied in museum collections. By focusing on the materiality of museum objects it is possible to unravel these connections, as well as the fractions and fissures they point to.
Search Results
You are looking at 1 - 10 of 70 items for :
- "contact zone" x
- Refine by Access: All content x
- Refine by Content Type: All x
Hybridity--Objects as Contact Zones
A Critical Analysis of Objects in the West African Collections at the Manchester Museum
Emma K. Poulter
Thule as Frontier
Commons, Contested Resources, and Contact Zones in the High Arctic
Kirsten Hastrup
of spatiality. The second, centring on the living resources in the region, poses a question of sustainability. The third, centring on the contact zone, highlights a question of legibility. Together, these moves show how changing visions and practices
In Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 1–19 (19 total)
Introduction
Engaging Anthropological Legacies toward Cosmo-optimistic Futures?
Sharon Macdonald, Henrietta Lidchi, and Margareta von Oswald
the Contact Zone In some cases, supposedly collaborative museum work is restricted to the museum “going out” to source communities, or to “inviting them in,” to use the kind of phraseology that is typically employed, perhaps in order to gain some
Relocalising academic literacy
Diversity, writing and collective learning in an international Master’s programme
Nana Clemensen and Lars Holm
terms of international higher education, the temporary bringing together of students with different social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds creates new kinds of ‘educational contact zones’ ( Pennycook 2007 ), making a complex interplay possible
In Learning and Teaching
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2017
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 34–55 (22 total)
Captured by Texts
Travel Tales of Captivity in Rabbinic Literature
Joshua Levinson
. This article explores one such travel tale of captivity from rabbinic literature of late antiquity. Captivity itself exemplifies what Mary Louise Pratt has called a “contact zone” in travel literature, those “social spaces where disparate cultures meet
Introduction
Mobility, Transfers, and Cultural Appropriation
Christian Huck
In his recent “manifesto” for future “mobility studies,” Stephen Greenblatt demands that studies investigating mobility from a cultural perspective should (a) make sure not to ignore mobility in the “literal sense,” that is, the “physical, infrastructural, and institutional conditions of movement,” (b) pay attention to “hidden” as well as “conspicuous” forms of movement, (c) look at the “contact zones” of cultural transfer, (d) consider the “tension between individual agency and structural constraint” in these processes and, finally, (e) not forget the “sensation” of “locality,” and the “allure” of “local cultures.”1
Actually existing tomatoes
Politics of memory, variety, and empire in Latvian struggles over seeds
Guntra A. Aistara
In March 2012, a small farm in Latvia with a collection of over 200 tomato varieties was charged with the illegal sale of seeds not included in the European Union's Common Catalogue. The farm's collection includes traditional Latvian varieties that have never been officially registered, Western varieties imported illegally during the Soviet years, and Russian varieties that came into use during the Soviet years and are now defended by Latvian gardeners as "traditionally grown" and representing the taste of their childhoods. The debate highlighted the continuing struggle over Latvia's geopolitical positioning between Russia and the European Union and control over seeds as a tactic of empire. I explore the cultural memories embedded in the contested tomato seeds and how they contribute to an intertwined imaginary of the Latvian landscape idyll with a Soviet sociality. I argue that the innovative resolution to this conflict represents a process of transculturation in a contact zone between empires (Pratt 1992).
Securitization, alterity, and the state
Human (in)security on an Amazonian frontier
Marc Brightman and Vanessa Grotti
English abstract: Focusing on the region surrounding the Maroni River, which forms the border between Suriname and French Guiana, we examine how relations between different state and non-state social groups are articulated in terms of security. The region is characterised by multiple “borders” and frontiers of various kinds, the state boundary having the features of an interface or contact zone. Several key collectivities meet in this border zone: native Amazonians, tribal Maroon peoples, migrant Brazilian gold prospectors, and metropolitan French state functionaries. We explore the relationships between these different sets of actors and describe how their mutual encounters center on discourses of human and state security, thus challenging the commonly held view of the region as a stateless zone and showing that the “human security” of citizens from the perspective of the state may compete with locally salient ideas or ex- periences of well-being.
Spanish abstract: El artículo examina cómo se articulan las relaciones en términos de seguridad entre grupos estatales y no estatales en la región que rodea el Río Maroni (frontera entre la Guyana francesa y Surinam). La región se caracteriza por múltiples “límites” y tipos de fronteras, teniendo así la frontera Estatal características de una zona de contacto o de una interfaz. Importantes comunidades se encuentran en esta zona de frontera: Nativos del Amazonas, comunidades tribales del Maroni, buscadores de oro brasileños y funcionarios estatales franceses. Los autores exploran las relaciones entre estas diferentes redes de actores, y describen la manera en que sus mutuos encuentros se centran en discursos de seguridad humana y del Estado, desafiando así, el tradicional enfoque que sostiene la región como una zona sin Estado y mostrando que la “seguridad humana” desde la perspectiva del Estado puede competir con importantes ideas locales o con experiencias de bienestar.
French abstract: En se concentrant sur la région entourant le fleuve Maroni, qui forme la frontière entre le Suriname et la Guyane française, nous examinons comment les relations entre les différents groupes sociaux étatiques et non-étatiques sont articulées en termes de sécurité. La région est caractérisée par de multiples «frontières» et les frontières de toutes sortes, la frontière de l'État ayant les caractéristiques d'une interface ou zone de contact. De nombreuses et importantes collectivités se rencontrent dans cette zone frontalière: Indigènes d'Amazonie, la communauté tribale Maroon, les migrants brésiliens à la recherche de l'or et les fonctionnaires d'Etat de la France métropolitaine. Nous explorons les relations entre ces différents groupes d'acteurs, et décrivons la manière dont leurs rencontres mutuelles sont centrées sur les discours relatifs à la sécurité humaine et l'État, remettant ainsi en cause l'idée communément admise de la région en tant zone apatride et montrant par la même que la «sécurité humaine» des citoyens perçue du point de vue de l'État peut rivaliser avec des idées saillantes au niveau local ou des expériences relatives au bien-être.
In Regions and Cohesion
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2014
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 17–38 (22 total)
Report on Heritage and Community
The Third Biennial International Museum Anthropology Conference, Yunnan University, Kunming, 30–31 October 2021
Pan Luo
could be advanced as discussed in the conference, following the concept of “contact zones” made popular by James Clifford (1997) . In this respect, “translation” is key to making contact and achieving mutual understanding. The need for communication and
Book Reviews
Shu-Mei Huang, Adam Kaul, and Dhan Zunino Singh
. 28). The book might also have benefitted from engagement with James Clifford, as Zhu's efforts to elaborate on (or re-evaluate) the possibilities of heritage tourism implicitly resonate with long-standing debates about the “museum as [a] contact zone