Dear museum-l people

As you know I'm writing on thesis within the topic-circle "social memory -
material culture - museum - cultural identity". Besides theory I'd like to
figure out some traces in the practical work with material culture and
museums.

After seeing the film "A box of Treasures" where the Kwakiutl get back
their potlatch-masks from the National Museum I think that there lies a lot
of information about the meaning of things for a group's identity and for
its social / cultural memory in a repatriation-process.

Have you made experiences with repatriations at your museum ?
I'm looking for well documented processes where it is possible to trace the
arguments (and counter-arguments) during the process.

I'm interested in questions (I know that each of these question has several
dimension and is arising other questions) like:

Why is a certain object requested ?
Who is asking for it and how?
What conditions are made ?
Which social processes are induced by the repatriation-process ?
What happens the with the repatriated object ?

Thank you for any information

Sincerely
Susi Jost






Susi Jost
Institut fuer Ethnologie
Laenggassstr. 49 A
CH-3000 Bern 9
Tel. +41-31-6318998
Fax +41-31-6314212
e-mail: [log in to unmask]