Translated Objects: The Olov Janse Case

Abstract

Th is article explores the movements of archaeological and ethnographicobjects and museum collections connected with the Swedish-born archaeologist andethnographer Olov R. T. Janse (1892–1985). Janse pursued a cosmopolitan career in theyears between 1920 and 1960, in and between the national contexts of Sweden, France,Indochina, the Philippines, and the United States, where he found himself in diff erentpolitical contexts such as colonialism, nationalism, and the Cold War. He initiatedobject exchanges between French and Swedish museums, and he collected archaeologicaland ethnographic objects from Indochina and the Philippines for museums in Sweden,France, and the United States. Th e complexity of object movements in the wakeof Olov Janse’s career suggests that we should think and talk about object mobility interms of translation rather than simple transmission. In seven sections, each exploringone chapter of Janse’s life, we discuss how changes in world politics became entangledwith changes in Janse’s own position as an archaeologist and ethnographer, aff ectingthe movements of objects and contributing to an active translation of their meaning.