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Entangled entitlements and Shuar tsantsa (shrunken heads)

Abstract:
The chapter discusses the reasons for, and public reactions to, the taking off display of 120 human remains in the Summer of 2020 at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. One side of “Treatment of Dead Enemies” case-displays included a supposedly “iconic” display of the Shuar shrunken heads or tsantsa, that anecdotally was the Museum's number one attraction. The removal caused both public outcry and wide-felt relief. Newly installed interpretation replaced the original case display, to allow visitors to consider the problematic past academic practices of physical anthropology, its relationship to race science and how those are linked to racist ideas about superiority and inferiority that shape our present today. The chapter discusses what tsantsa are, why they ended up in the European imagination and tries to understand some of the reactions of press and public to the changes.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Files:
Publisher copy:
10.4324/9781003195870-19

Authors

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Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
GLAM
Department:
Pitt Rivers Museum
Oxford college:
Linacre College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-1029-3199

Contributors

Role:
Editor

Publisher:
Routledge
Host title:
The Routledge Handbook of Museums, Heritage, and Death
Pages:
208-225
Chapter number:
15
Series:
Routledge Handbooks
Place of publication:
London
Publication date:
2023-07-26
Edition:
1
DOI:
EISBN:
9781003195870
ISBN-10:
1032047046
ISBN-13:
9781032047041

Language:
English
Keywords:
Subtype:
Chapter
Pubs id:
1499803
Local pid:
pubs:1499803
Deposit date:
2023-08-16

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