Buried in the Colonial Graveyard? Indigenous Sound Ontologies, Repatriation and the Ethics of Curating Ethnographic Sounds

Abstract

In this article, Michael Fuhr and Matthias Lewy discuss the potentials and challenges of dealing with and exhibiting sounds and sound concepts of indigenous peoples and ask if and how ethnographically-informed sound curation can help 'decolonize' the museum. Drawing on historical recordings of the Selk'nam, Yagán and the Pémon, they show that ethical concerns with the ways of how European institutions handle these recordings are inextricably entwined with unresolved questions of who should possess authority and representational power over the recorded and archived sounds. Acknowledging indigenous sound ontologies can challenge the representational mode in European museum and archival spaces.