Source Community Utilization of Ethnological Collections for Information Sharing in Japanese Museums (Fostering Joint International Research)

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15KK0069
• Research Category: Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: National Museum of Ethnology
• Principal Investigator: Ito Atsunori 国立民族学博物館, 学術資源研究開発センター, 准教授 (50610317)
• Project Period (FY): 2016 – 2019
• Keywords: 博物館 / 先住民 / 民族誌資料 / ソースコミュニティ / 協働民族誌 / デジタル映像アーカイブ / デコロナイゼーション / カルチャル・センシティビティへの配慮

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We begun the work of reconnecting the Hopi jewelry collection at Museum of Northern Arizona, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institute) and several other museums, with contemporary Hopi silversmiths. The accumulation of new information has resulted in a valuable and irreplaceable narrative documentation of people's memories and experiences that puts a spotlight on the diversity of the source community and the individuality of the objects. It is not necessary for a collection review transcript to just be a museum collection reference database. It could be a tool to document and understand a complex, diverse, and changing body of knowledge about the source community by incorporating their views of individual objects held in the museums. We focus on what is important to the community members. It is a robust record of their personal connections, to be handed down to their descendants.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

民族学博物館が収蔵する資料の多くは、研究者や学芸員といった文化的他者によって科学的に分類され解説されてきた。本課題では、ソースコミュニティの人びとに資料一点一点を資料情報と突き合わせて確認してもらうことで、多様な個から形成される地元の多層的な知識のあり方を、新たな資料情報として記録・収集することができた。