Visitors say, 'Real shrunken heads! Wow! How were they…
““Visitors say, 'Real shrunken heads! Wow! How were they made? By slitting the skin, taking out the skull and brains and steaming them with hot sand? Gross!' But what no one asks is: how did they get here? What are they doing hanging up in a university museum in the south of England? Once you start to answer that question, you realize that shrunken heads like these are a product as much of European curiosity, European taste and European purchasing power as they are of an archaic tribal custom. It is time to turn the spotlight round and point it back at people like you and me, and at our ancestors, who were responsible for bringing hundreds of these heads into museums and people's homes and who delighted in them as much as -- if not more than -- the people who created them in the first place. After all, it is not the Shuar who are pressing their noses to the glass of an exhibition case in an Oxford University museum.””
About This Quote
European colonizers commodified shrunken heads, reflecting curiosity, power, and exploitation.
In simple terms: Museums display shrunken heads, revealing colonial exploitation.
Key Takeaway
Critically examine cultural artifacts and their histories.
Themes
colonialism
museum
culture
ethics
history
Mood
critical
inquisitive
Type
Anthropology:1
First place:0
Heads:1
Museology:1
Oxford university:0
Shuar:1
People Created:1
Like Ancestors:0
Shrunken Heads:1
Heads Museums:1
When to use this quote
- museum curation
- academic research
- public education
Key Concepts
power dynamics
objectification
anthropological critique
Questions to Reflect On
- Who owns cultural heritage?
- How should museums address problematic collections?
A Different Perspective
Ignoring provenance perpetuates injustice.