Vems föremål, vems kulturarv ? : om staten, urbefolkningarna och kulturarvsdiskursen

by Ehn, Thérèse

The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at our relationship with objects and artifacts, especially calling attention towards those objects that we have decided should be a part of the cultural heritage. The paper holds the view that our relationship with objects, and therefore the value we give objects depends on the amount of knowledge we have about them. The knowledge we have about objects can take the form of narratives. Hence the paper will argue that objects can be said to have biographies. When an object is placed in a museum context the most important trait of that objects identity becomes its identity as a museum object. The story of the individual object becomes part of the bigger narrative of a specific cultural heritage. The objects identity as a museum object can be challenged by its previous owners. The paper explores how the repatriation of artifacts to indigenous groups affects their relationship with states and the importance of the presence of the actual artifact to tell a convincing story about the cultural heritage. In addition to the state sponsored museum sector, there are private cultural heritage projects, run by regional minorities as well as indigenous groups. How these non-governmental cultural heritage projects, that wish to put forward an alternative cultural heritage in a nation state, view the nationalist’s credo that a distinct cultural heritage needs a nation state on its own is discussed in the paper.