New explorations into South Sudanese museum collections in Europe

南苏丹博物馆藏品在欧洲的新探索

• 批准号: AH/P006914/1
• 负责人: Donna Cherry Leonardi
• 金额: $ 4.62万
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FP006914%2F1
• 关键词: New; explorations; into; South; Sudanese

The new state of South Sudan is best known for its deeply troubled history; from enslavement and colonisation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to the prolonged civil wars that led both to its independence in 2011 and to continued post-independence conflicts. This history of violence and victimhood poses both analytical and practical challenges to scholars and nation-builders alike: how can we better understand the interactions and strategies pursued by people even in violent contexts? How can we study and celebrate the creativity, resilience and reciprocities that also run through South Sudanese history? How can we gain a richer picture of the region's past, one that reaches beyond deterministic narratives of conflict and ethnic division? One resource for doing this lies unexploited in our midst. European museums house an estimated 20,000 objects, originally acquired by European travellers, traders, missionaries and officials in the Southern Sudanese region in the nineteenth or early twentieth century. These items range from household objects, jewellery, weaponry and musical instruments to large, visually striking figurative statues. They are now housed in locations as diverse as St Petersburg, Rome and Kent. Many of the collections have rich supporting documentation - including accounts of expeditions, diaries, photographs and correspondence concerning acquisitions by museums. Yet they have not yet been the subject of extensive comparative enquiry.'New explorations into South Sudanese museum collections in Europe' is an international research network investigating this huge but largely untapped resource for advancing understandings of South Sudan's history, global connections and creative arts. Not only do these collections provide new sources on the region's past, they also expose complex narratives of interaction, in both its violent and more peaceful aspects. Exploring material connections and reciprocities will make new intellectual advances on the history of South Sudan possible and allow us to rethink this history with potential for significant intellectual and social impacts. The network brings together academics from different disciplines with museum practitioners and heritage stakeholders to develop a research agenda on South Sudanese museum collections across Europe. It is the first of its kind to connect these dispersed collections with South Sudanese communities, addressing not only the collections' academic significance, but also their potential contribution to developing more inclusive understandings of South Sudanese identity. These objects can reveal histories of economic and cultural exchange within the region that has become South Sudan. Through their acquisition, export and display in Europe, they also embody the often violent and extractive incorporation of this region into imperial and transnational economies. They offer the potential for deeper and more nuanced understandings of how people in the Upper Nile region negotiated new trading opportunities as well as the coercive predation through which these objects were acquired.Through three workshops with international participants, the network will make tangible steps towards a major programme of research on the collections, involving institutions in both Europe and South Sudan. It will serve as a unique international hub for museums with significant South Sudanese collections, facilitating new comparative perspectives on as yet disconnected collections and histories. A key priority is to involve South Sudanese in this research process, while providing an important opportunity for current curators and researchers to reflect on the past and present display of these collections, their reception by European audiences and the narratives they project. The initial results will be published in a special journal issue aimed at multidisciplinary audiences and online to reach the widest possible academic and non-academic audiences.

新成立的南苏丹以其混乱的历史而闻名；从19世纪和20世纪初的奴役和殖民，到导致2011年独立的长期内战，以及独立后持续不断的冲突。这段暴力和受害者的历史对学者和国家建设者提出了分析和实际的挑战：我们如何更好地理解即使在暴力背景下人们所追求的互动和策略？我们如何研究和颂扬南苏丹历史上的创造力、韧性和互惠精神？我们如何才能更丰富地了解该地区的过去，超越冲突和种族分裂的确定性叙述？这样做的一个资源就在我们中间尚未开发。欧洲博物馆收藏了大约2万件物品，最初是由19世纪或20世纪初在南苏丹地区的欧洲旅行者、商人、传教士和官员获得的。这些物品包括家居用品、珠宝、武器和乐器，以及视觉上引人注目的大型雕像。它们现在被安置在圣彼得堡、罗马和肯特等不同的地方。许多藏品都有丰富的佐证文件——包括探险记录、日记、照片和与博物馆藏品有关的信件。然而，它们还没有成为广泛比较研究的主题。“对欧洲南苏丹博物馆藏品的新探索”是一个国际研究网络，旨在调查这一巨大但尚未开发的资源，以促进对南苏丹历史、全球联系和创意艺术的理解。这些藏品不仅为该地区的过去提供了新的来源，而且还揭示了相互作用的复杂叙述，包括暴力和更和平的方面。探索物质联系和互惠关系将使南苏丹历史上的新知识进步成为可能，并使我们能够重新思考这段历史，并有可能产生重大的知识和社会影响。该网络将来自不同学科的学者与博物馆从业人员和遗产利益相关者聚集在一起，制定关于欧洲各地南苏丹博物馆藏品的研究议程。这是第一次将这些分散的收藏与南苏丹社区联系起来，不仅解决了收藏的学术意义，而且还解决了它们对发展对南苏丹身份的更包容的理解的潜在贡献。这些物品可以揭示南苏丹地区经济和文化交流的历史。通过在欧洲的收购、出口和展示，它们也体现了将该地区纳入帝国和跨国经济的暴力和榨取行为。它们为更深入、更细致地了解上尼罗地区的人们如何谈判新的贸易机会以及通过强制掠夺获得这些物品提供了可能。通过与国际参与者举行的三个讲习班，该网络将采取具体步骤，推动一个涉及欧洲和南苏丹机构的重大馆藏研究方案。它将成为拥有重要南苏丹藏品的博物馆的独特国际中心，为尚未联系的藏品和历史提供新的比较视角。一个关键的优先事项是让南苏丹人参与这一研究过程，同时为现任策展人和研究人员提供一个重要的机会，让他们反思这些藏品的过去和现在的展示，欧洲观众对它们的接受程度以及它们所投射的叙事。初步结果将发表在面向多学科读者的特刊上，并在线发表，以尽可能广泛地接触学术和非学术读者。