Engaging with Ethnographic Museum Objects from Erstwhile Naga Hills: From Imperial, Colonial and Postcolonial Eras to Contemporary Reimagining

Abstract

The colonial monographs on Naga peoples and the colonial appropriation of artefacts in north-east India enhanced anthropological knowledge in Europe. This paper asks how far the ‘decolonising the museum’ approach can be applied in studying Naga collections in European museums and in facilitating critical engagement with ethnographic objects from Naga communities in both Western and Indian museums. There has been a regeneration of interest in the colonial history of Naga collections among European/New World academics and in ethnographic museums in the late 1980s, mid 2000s and currently in Humboldt Lab (2015) and Forum (2022), and among Naga communities themselves. The paper examines how the contrasting historical trajectories, positions and modern consequences play out 1 .