Paperback, £11.99
A timely and intriguing collection of short pieces inspired by the ‘eth docs’ – items in the ethnographic collection’s archive, all relating to the Americas. Charco have lined up an outstanding list of writers to respond to these items, and the book includes essays, short stories, and poetry. Contributors include Selva Almada and Gabriela Wiener.
Explorers, Dreamers and Thieves is the perfect title, reflecting on (among other things) those who brought selected items to the collection, as this is a time of great debate over the purpose of ethnographic museums (including the British Museum). The curators who introduce the book find that there is a “systemically unjust apparatus that undergirds much anthropological work and many museums” (p. 9).
The questioning of how items came to be in the collections and whether they should remain there are now mainstream (see for example Noah Angell’s new book Ghosts of the British Museum). This collection is a thoughtful intervention on many different issues including decolonisation.
Riverside favourite Philippe Sands finds a glass arrowhead that relates to one of the key players in his account of Nazis finding postwar shelter in South America, connecting war crimes in Europe to crimes of colonialism in Chile. Others are inspired to think of the stories behind the items, leading to other themes and reflections too.
This thoughtful collection has helped me think about archives and museums differently. Pair it with Saidiya Hartman’s outstanding Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments to continue your own exploration.
Review by Bethan