The Australian Aboriginal Collection in the Museumf¿¿r V¿¿lkerkunde, Berlin: the Making of Cultural Identity

Increasing interest in collections of Indigenouscultural material held by museums in terms ofreframing colonial histories through recovering thestories of collections and collectors whileIndigenous peoples are recovering culturalinformation relevant to their own communities, hasled to a flourishing of publications and conferencesas well as various repatriation claims. This overviewof the collection of Australian Aboriginal materialheld in a European museum, the Museum f¿¿r V¿¿lkerkundein Berlin investigates the aims driving the amassingof that material in the first forty years followingestablishment of the Museum in 1873, its subsequentcollection and display policies and its contributionto framing Aboriginal cultural identity. Motivationsof the museum, the collectors and some of the makersare revealed. Strategies of collecting and display bykey museum counterparts in Europe and the UK arecompared and proposals for continued relationshipsbetween the Museum and communities of origin of thematerial of benefit to all parties are canvassed.