Visualizing Roots and Itineraries of Indian Ocean Creolizations: Project for a Museum of the Present
Main Article Content
Abstract
In this paper, I will discuss the methodological problems raised by the museography of a forthcoming museum on Reunion Island, the Maison des civilisations et de l'unité réunionnaise. One of the museum's goals is to retrace visually the itineraries of the processes of creolisation in the Indian Ocean that led to the creation of a singular culture, the Creole indiaoceanic culture. How to visualise the multiple layers of signification at work, the traces and fragments of languages, imaginaries, rituals, practices travelling throughout the ocean, the dynamic of loss, transformation, translation and recreation of forms, rituals, practices in the itineraries of people? I will first present the museum, its context and goals, then suggests ways of “making visual” elements of the Indian Ocean’s long history, and finally, discuss the challenges of imagining a museum of the present in the Indian Ocean world.
Article Details
Section
Articles
Authors submitting a paper to UTSePress publications agree to assign a limited license to UTSePress if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license allows UTSePress to publish a manuscript in a given issue.
Copyright is retained by the authors who assert their moral rights. Authors control translation and reproduction rights to their works published by UTSePress.
Downloads of specific portions of the Transforming Cultures eJournal are permitted for personal use only, not for commercial use or resale.
Requests for permission to reprint or use any materials should be directed to the Author.
References
Carbonell, Bettina Messias (ed.) Museum Studies (London: Blackwell, 2006).
Clifford, James Routes: Travel and Translations in the Late Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997).
Glissant, Edouard Poétique de la relation (Paris: Gallimard, 1990).
Gruzinski, Serge La Pensée métisse (Paris: Fayard, 1999).
Hein, George E. Learning in the Museum (London: Routledge, 1998).
Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean Museums and the Sharing of Knowledge (London: Routledge, 1992).
Karp, Ivan, Kratz, Corinne A., Szwaja, Lynn and Ybarra-Frausto, Tomas (eds) Museum Frictions: Public Culture/Global Transformations (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006). https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388296
Marstine, Janet (ed.) New Museum Theory and Practice (London: Blackwell, 2006). https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470776230
Pratt, Mary-Louise Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (New York: Routledge, 1992).
Sandell, Richard and Janes, Robert R. (eds) Museum Management and Marketing (London: Routledge, 2007).
Watson, Sheila (ed.) Museums and their Communities (London: Routledge, 2007).
Clifford, James Routes: Travel and Translations in the Late Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997).
Glissant, Edouard Poétique de la relation (Paris: Gallimard, 1990).
Gruzinski, Serge La Pensée métisse (Paris: Fayard, 1999).
Hein, George E. Learning in the Museum (London: Routledge, 1998).
Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean Museums and the Sharing of Knowledge (London: Routledge, 1992).
Karp, Ivan, Kratz, Corinne A., Szwaja, Lynn and Ybarra-Frausto, Tomas (eds) Museum Frictions: Public Culture/Global Transformations (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006). https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388296
Marstine, Janet (ed.) New Museum Theory and Practice (London: Blackwell, 2006). https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470776230
Pratt, Mary-Louise Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (New York: Routledge, 1992).
Sandell, Richard and Janes, Robert R. (eds) Museum Management and Marketing (London: Routledge, 2007).
Watson, Sheila (ed.) Museums and their Communities (London: Routledge, 2007).