Abstract

How does one ethically care for a global collection shaped and maintained within a colonial context? How do we address institutional responsibilities in a way that is transparent, rigorous and reparative? This article discusses on-going conservation research at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as part of a 5-year storage relocation project. Moving beyond key vocabularies and abstract critique, this work examines the potential role of conservation in documenting and interpreting evidence for damage, displacement and erasure related to methods of colonial knowledge production and historic museum practice. The work includes a consideration of the language used to distinguish modifications resulting from museum practice such as the application of pesticides; monitoring change over time; the expectation of object longevity; and the potential consequences of disrupted traditions of maintenance and knowledge exchange. The article concludes by reflecting on the ways in which technical vocabularies, documentation and decision-making processes can shape and even improve the ways in which these collections are studied, valued and utilised by a diversity of stakeholders.

摘要

人们如何在道德上关心在殖民背景下形成和维护的全球收藏？我们如何以透明、严格和修复性的方式履行机构责任？本文讨论了剑桥大学考古与人类学博物馆正在进行的保护研究，这是为期 5 年的存储搬迁项目的一部分。这项工作超越了关键词汇和抽象批评，探讨了保护在记录和解释与殖民知识生产方法和历史博物馆实践相关的损害、迁移和擦除证据方面的潜在作用。这项工作包括考虑用于区分博物馆实践造成的变化（例如杀虫剂的使用）的语言；监控随时间的变化；对物体寿命的期望；以及维护和知识交流传统被破坏的潜在后果。本文最后反思了技术词汇、文档和决策过程如何塑造甚至改进不同利益相关者研究、评估和利用这些馆藏的方式。