Zum Hauptinhalt springen
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Mnemonic ‘Boundary Objects’ and Postcolonial Restitution

  • EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 6. Juli 2023
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Drawing on new materialist and object-centered historical criticism, this article analyses colonial and post-colonial discourses of the Greenlandic figurines of the mythical being of ill-wishing and revenge, tupilak (plural form: tupilait). It focuses on three tupilak figures, made in 1905/1906 by a shaman Mitsivarniannga on a request of a Danish ethnographer William Thalbitzer, which today are part of the Danish National Museum collections. In the early 20th century, Greenlandic tupilait (and Inuit cultural production in general) were an object of fascination among European collectors, artists, and the general public. Asking what these objects had come to mean in (and for) Europe, this article points to marginalized Greenlandic narratives of Mitsivarniannga’s tupilat, and builds a critical narrative of these objects as material effects of the disruptions of indigenous community and sustenance by Western colonialism. Drawing on critical insights from the current post-colonial restitution debates, it problematizes the differential political-economic conditions and relations of power, under which the colonial acquisitions and procurements took place. The article argues that cultural heritage items, such as the three tupilat, are mnemonic ‘boundary objects’ that can potentially forge links between disparate memories of colonialism in Denmark and Greenland.


Corresponding author: Magdalena Zolkos, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Jyväskylä University, Jyväskylän yliopisto, Finland, E-mail:
Dedicated to This article was first presented as the New Frontiers Lecture at the Frankfurt Memory Studies Platform at Goethe University in October 2022 as part of my Humboldt Research Fellow there. My thanks go, first, to Prof. Dr. Astrid Erll for the invitation, support and her intellectual generosity, to Dr. Hanna Teichler for her kind assistance in organising the event, and to all the participants. Among them, I want to especially thank Dr. Pavan Malreddy, whose questions helped me think deeper about the connection between post-humanism and post-colonial criticism. Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. This article is an outcome of a fieldwork conducted in Denmark and in Greenland in 2020–2021, and I thank staff, curators and researchers at the following institutions: Maritime Museum of Denmark, National Museum of Denmark (Arctic Centre at the Ethnographic Collections SILA), and Greenland National Museum and Archives, in particular Dr. Martin Appelt, Kirstine Eiby Møller, and Thorbjørn Thaarup. Last but not least, many thanks to the article’s anonymous reviewer and to the journal’s editors for their help, work and support.

References

Andersen, J. 2007. Poul Hansen Egede, en grønlandsforsker i 1700-tallet. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag.Suche in Google Scholar

Arke, P. 2012 [1995]. “Ethno-Aesthetics.” In Tupilakosaurus. An Incomplete(able) Survey of Pia Arke’s Artistic Work and Research, edited by K. Aktion. Trans. Erik Gant and John Kendal, 335–343. Copenhagen.Suche in Google Scholar

Bak, O. 1979. Troldbjørnen. Copenhagen: Hernov.Suche in Google Scholar

Bandle, A. L., A. Chechi, and M.-A. Renold. 2012. “Case Utimut Process–Denmark and Greenland.” In Platform ArThemis. Geneva. Also available at https://plone.unige.ch/art-adr/cases-affaires/utimut-process-2013-denmark-and-greenland/case-note-utimut-process (accessed May 28, 2021).Suche in Google Scholar

Basu, P. 2017. The Inbetweenness of Things. Materializing Mediation and Movement Between Worlds. New York: Bloomsbury.Suche in Google Scholar

Berglund, J. 1994. “Recovering the Past: The Greenland National Museum and Archives.” Museum International 182: 26–29, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0033.1994.tb01166.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Buijs, C. 2016. “Museum Collection Decolonization and Indigenous Cultural Heritage in an Island Community: East Greenland and the ‘Roots 2 Share’ Photo Project.” Island Studies Journal 11 (2): 537–560, https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.366.Suche in Google Scholar

Buijs, C. 2018. “Living Objects. The Transfer of Knowledge through East Greenlandic Material Culture.” In Traditions, Traps, and Trends. Transfer of Knowledge in Arctic Regions, edited by J. Oosten, and B. H. Miller, 143–188. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.10.1515/9781772124026-006Suche in Google Scholar

Chakrabarty, D. 2000. Provincializing Europe. Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Egede, P. 1788. Efterretninger om Grønland uddragne af en Journal holden fra 1721 til 1788. Copenhagen: Det kongelige Baisenhuses Bogtrykkerie af Hans Christopher Schrøder.Suche in Google Scholar

Eilertsen, L. 2012. “Breaking the Ice: Conflicts of Heritage in the West Nordic Regions.” In National Museums and the Negotiations of Difficult Pasts, edited by D. Poulot, J. M. Lanzarote Guiral, and F. Bodenstein, 153–172. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Esposito, R. 2015. Persons and Things. From the Body’s Point of View. London: Wiley.Suche in Google Scholar

Geertsen, I. 1990. Kârale Andreassen: En østgrønlandsk kunstner. Nuuk: Atuakkiorfik.Suche in Google Scholar

Gilberg, R. 2001. “Tupilakken. Den usynlige dræber og turistfiguren.” Tidsskriftet om Grønland 2: 67–79.Suche in Google Scholar

Grønnow, B., and E. L. Jensen. 2008. “Utimut: Repatriation and Collaboration Between Denmark and Greenland.” In Utimut. Past Heritage–Future Partnership, edited by M. Gabriel, and J. Dahl, 180–191. Copenhagen: IWGIA / NKA.Suche in Google Scholar

Haagen, B. 2012. “Thalbitzers samling fra Ammassalik. Herunder try uhyre interessante tupilakmodeller.” Slædesporet 32 (9): 203–209.Suche in Google Scholar

Haagen, B. 2014. Tupilaks. Magical Figures from Greenland. Copenhagen: Tinok.Suche in Google Scholar

Holm, G. 1888. “Ethologisk skizze af angmagsalikerne.” Meddelser om Grønland 9/10.10.1080/11035898809444193Suche in Google Scholar

Holm, G. 1914. “Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsalik.” Meddelser om Grønland 39: 1–148.Suche in Google Scholar

Holtved, E. 1958. “William Thalbitzer 5. Februar 1873–18. September 1958.” Geografisk Tidskrift 57: vi–vii.Suche in Google Scholar

Hoydal, H. 2006. “Neo-Colonialism with a Human Face – the Cosy Self-Colonization in Danish Home Rule.” In Rethinking Nordic Colonialism Conference. Also available at http://www.rethinking-nordic-colonialism.org/files/pdf/ACT2/ESSAYS/Hoydal.pdf (accessed July 13, 2020).Suche in Google Scholar

Jensen, L. 2018. Postcolonial Denmark: Nation Narration in a Crisis Ridden Europe. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780429491887Suche in Google Scholar

Jensen, L. 2019. “Commemoration, Nation Narration, and Colonial Historiography in Postcolonial Denmark.” Scandinavian Studies 91 (1-2): 13–30, https://doi.org/10.5406/scanstud.91.1-2.0013.Suche in Google Scholar

Kaalund, B. 1983. The Art of Greenland: Sculpture, Crafts, Paintings. Berkeley: University of California Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Kleivan, I., and B. Sonne. 1985. Eskimos: Greenland and Canada. Leiden: Brill.10.1163/9789004666382Suche in Google Scholar

Körber, L. A. 2014. “Mapping Greenland: The Greenlandic Flag and Critical Cartography in Literature, Art and Fashion.” In The Postcolonial North Atlantic. Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, edited by L. A. Körber, and E. Volquardsen, 391–418. Berlin: Nordeuropa-Institut der Humboldt Universität.Suche in Google Scholar

Mbembe, A. 2001. “Necropolitics.” Public Culture 15 (1): 11–40, https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11.Suche in Google Scholar

Mbembe, A. 2005. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Mbembe, A. 2018. “Recognition, Reparation, Reconciliation.” In A conference keynote address. Stellenbosh: Stellenbosh University. Also available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4oYP44uc2Q (accessed April 14, 2020).Suche in Google Scholar

Mbembe, A. 2019a. “Of African Objects in Western Museums.” In An acceptance speech at Gerda Henkel Stiftung. Cologne: University of Cologne. https://www.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/en/recipient-in-2018?page_id=99597 (accessed April 14, 2020).Suche in Google Scholar

Mbembe, A. 2019b. “On the Restitution of African Art Objects.” In A lecture series at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg. Also available at https://www.inventoriesprogramme.org/archives/2019/4/20/achille-mbembe-on-the-restitution-of-african-art-objects (accessed March 30, 2020).Suche in Google Scholar

Mbembe, A. 2019c. Necropolitics. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1215/9781478007227Suche in Google Scholar

Ngumi, N., and J. Chuchu. 2021. “When the Empire Gets Weary, the Objects May Return.” In Talking Objects Lab. Also available at https://talkingobjectslab.org/when-the-empires-get-weary-the-objects-may-return (accessed October 25, 2022).Suche in Google Scholar

N/A. 1985. “Principper for udtagning af fund og genstande til overførsel.” In Archives of the Utimut Process. Nuuk: Greenlandic National Archives.Suche in Google Scholar

Neuhaus, M. 2000. “That’s Raven Talk.” In Holophrastic Reading of Contemporary Indigenous Literatures. Regina: CPRC Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Ngumi, N. 2022. “Can Art Change Kenya?” In The Hard Talk. BBC World. Also available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct32fn (accessed October 25, 2022).Suche in Google Scholar

Oreskov, C. 2006. “Historisk møde med tupilakkerne på Kronborg.” Grønland 5: 216–224.Suche in Google Scholar

Petersen, R. 1964. “The Greenland Tupilak.” Folk 6 (2): 72–88.Suche in Google Scholar

Petersen, R. 1996. “Body and Soul in Ancient Greenlandic Religion.” In Shamanism and Northern Ecology, edited by J. Pentikäinen, 67–78. Berlin: de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110811674.67Suche in Google Scholar

Rahbek-Clemmensen, J. 2011. “Denmark in the Arctic: Bowing to Three Masters.” Atlantisch Perspectief 35 (3): 9–14.Suche in Google Scholar

Rasmussen, K. 1921. Eskimo Folk-Tales. Trans. W. Worster. London.10.5479/sla.263372.39088005879580Suche in Google Scholar

Rink, H. J. 1875. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo with a Sketch of Their Habits, Religion, Language and Other Peculiarities. Trans. Hinrich Johannes Rink. Edinburgh.Suche in Google Scholar

Robertson, G. 2019. Who Owns History? Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure. London: Penguin Random House.Suche in Google Scholar

Romalis, S. 1983. “The East Greenland Tupilaq Image: Old and New Visions.” Études Inuit Studies 7 (1): 152–159.Suche in Google Scholar

Romalis, S. 1985. The Tupilaq: Image and Label. Understanding East Greenland Carvings. MA Thesis, Vancouver: The University of British Columbia. Department of Anthropology and Sociology.Suche in Google Scholar

Sarr, F., and B. Savoy. 2018. The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage. Toward a New Relational Ethic. Trans. Drew S. Burk. Also available at http://restitutionreport2018.com/sarr_savoy_en.pdf (accessed February 08, 2021).Suche in Google Scholar

Schultz-Lorentzen, H. 1988. “Return of Cultural Property by Denmark to Greenland: from Dream to Reality.” Museum 160: 200–205, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0033.1989.tb01350.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Scott, C. 2019. Cultural Diplomacy and the Heritage of Empire. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781351164245Suche in Google Scholar

Star, S. L., and J. R. Griesemer. 1989. “Institutional Ecology, ‘Translations’ and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907–39.” Social Studies of Science 19 (3): 387–420, https://doi.org/10.1177/030631289019003001.Suche in Google Scholar

Successful Repatriation: The Utimut Process in Denmark & Greenland. Workable Model of Restitution Continues to Benefit Communities” In Cultural Property News. Also available at https://culturalpropertynews.org/successful-repatriation-the-utimut-process-in-denmark-greenland/ (accessed October 24, 2022).Suche in Google Scholar

Thalbitzer, W. 1914. “Ethnographical Collection from East Greenland.” Meddelser om Grønland 39: 319–755.Suche in Google Scholar

Thalbitzer, W. 1931. The Ammassalick Eskimo: Contributions to the Ethnology of the East Greenland Natives. Copenhagen: AMS Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Thalbitzer, W. 1932. “Grönland nu og för.” Nordisk Tidskrift 8: 6–12.Suche in Google Scholar

Thalbitzer, W. 1933-1934. “Østgrønlandske stemmer. Sprog of melodier på fonograf.” Det Grønlandske Selskabs Aarsskrifter: 58–72.Suche in Google Scholar

Thalbitzer, W. 1953. “Briefe.” In Briefe an William Thalbitzer, edited by A. Heusler. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.Suche in Google Scholar

Thalbitzer, W. 2014 [1905-1906]. Dagbog Østgrønland: Juni 1905-September 1906, edited by O. Lund. Copenhagen: Det Grønlandske Selskab.Suche in Google Scholar

Thisted, K. 2017a. “‘A Place in the Sun’: Historical Perspectives on the Debate on Development and Modernity in Greenland.” In Arctic Modernities: The Environmental, the Exotic and the Everyday, edited by H. Hansson, and A. Ryall, 312–344. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Thisted, K., et al.. 2017b. “The Greenlandic Reconciliation Commission: Ethnonationalism, Arctic Resources, and Post-Colonial Identity.” In Arctic Environmental Modernities: From the Age of Polar Exploration to the Era of the Anthropocene, edited by L. A. Körber, S. MacKenzie, and A. Stenport Westerstahl, 231–246. London: Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-39116-8_14Suche in Google Scholar

Thorleifsen, D. 2009. “The Repatriation of Greenland’s Cultural Heritage.” Museum International 61 (1-2): 25–29, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0033.2009.01662.x.Suche in Google Scholar

Viljoen, J. M., and M. Zolkos. 2022. “Reimagining Cultural Memory of the Arctic in the Graphic Narratives of Oqaluttuaq.” Memory Studies 15 (2): 332–354, https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211037283.Suche in Google Scholar

Wengrow, D. 2014. The Origins of Monsters. Image and Cognition in the First Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Princeton: Princeton University Press.10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar

Zolkos, M. 2020. Restitution and the Politics of Repair: Tropes, Imaginaries, Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.10.1515/9781474453110Suche in Google Scholar

Zolkos, M. 2021. “From a Tupilak’s Point of View. Cultural Heritage Repatriation in Greenland.” In Latitude. Rethinking Power Relations – for a Decolonized and Non-racial World. Helsinki/Frankfurt: Goethe Institute. Also available at https://www.goethe.de/prj/lat/en/spu/22165206.html (accessed May 31, 2021).Suche in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2023-07-06
Published in Print: 2023-04-25

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Raum- und zeitsemantische Oppositionen als Analysekriterium: Beispiellektüren skandinavischer Gedichte (Staffeldt, Ibsen, Christensen, Tranströmer)
  4. Genkendelse og ønsket om at glemme. Anagnorisis i Morten Borgersens Jeg har arvet en mørk skog (2012) og Wencke Mühleisens Kanskje det ennå finns en åpen plass i verden (2015)
  5. Ekokritiska perspektiv i Maria Parrs Keeperen og havet
  6. The Fleece of the Ram
  7. Mnemonic ‘Boundary Objects’ and Postcolonial Restitution
  8. Precursors of Sociolinguistic Typology
  9. The Gender Incongruency Effect in L3 Swedish due to Imperfect Gender Acquisition in L2 German
  10. Book Reviews
  11. Ebba Hjorth (Hauptherausgeberin), Henrik Galberg Jacobsen, Bent Jørgensen, Birgitte Jacobsen, Laurids Kristian Fahl: Dansk Sproghistorie
  12. Frode Ulvund: Religious Otherness and National Identity in Scandinavia, c. 1790–1960: The Construction of Jews, Mormons, and Jesuits as Anti-Citizens and Enemies of Society
  13. Anne Klara Bom: H. C. Andersen som kulturelt ikon
  14. Philipp Wagner: Chronotopische Insularitäten. Zur Inseldarstellung in den skandinavischsprachigen Literaturen um 1900 und der Gegenwart
  15. Erik Zillén: Fabelbruk i svensk tidigmodernitet. En genrehistorisk studie
  16. Carolin Löher: Dachmarke Literatur. Die Literaturvermittlungsinstitution Literaturhaus in Deutschland und Skandinavien
  17. Jürgen Hiller: Der Literaturpreis des Nordischen Rates
  18. Gunilla Hermansson/Jens Lohfert Jørgensen: Exploring NORDIC COOL in Literary History
  19. Yves Lenzin: Isländersagas. Verschriftlichung und Politisierung
Heruntergeladen am 19.4.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ejss-2023-2003/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen