The Department of Research and Teaching at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac offers several international symposia every year since its opening in 2006. Find here the proceedings of the symposia.
These collective publications restore the debates. The proceedings are composed of articles selected by the department team, in consultation with the scientific directors of each of the events.
Quel a été le projet du musée du quai Branly ? Comment a-t-il été mis en œuvre, et quelles évolutions a-t-il connues ? Quel est son effet sur les conceptions muséales ailleurs dans le monde et en quoi a-t-il modifié les pratiques de conservation et de recherche ?
Ce colloque international revient sur l’histoire du musée depuis son ouverture et surtout sur les questions auxquelles il a été confronté durant cette période. Il se penchera sur la politique d’exposition du musée, sur la place de la recherche et son lien avec les collections du musée, sur les modalités et les enjeux de son rapport aux publics, enfin sur les défis posés par l’évolution des rapports entre institutions muséales et communautés d’origine des œuvres.
De La Vision des vaincus (1971) aux Mémoires marranes (2011) en passant par Le Retour des ancêtres (1990), l’oeuvre de Nathan Wachtel chemine, un demi-siècle durant, sur les lignes de crête du dialogue – productif souvent, critique parfois – entre l’anthropologie et l’histoire.
Il s’agit ainsi, à l’occasion d’une série de tables-rondes consacrées aux différents aspects de l’œuvre de Nathan Wachtel, non seulement de rendre compte de l’évolution des rapports entre histoire et anthropologie dans le champ académique français depuis les années 1970, mais aussi de voir quel parti les chercheurs d’aujourd’hui tirent de la relecture de ses travaux.
Les actes du colloque sont consultables sur revues.org
For long, in conventional representations, prehistory was that of Western Europe, characterized by lithic industries and emblematic decorated caves. In contrast, non-Western societies, in particular societies called “primitive”, are understood as being timeless, frozen in the moment of their discovery.
How does anthropology take into account the past of the "tribal" societies it studies? How do these societies represent their past and how can archaeology provide them with temporal depth? In what historical and archaeological perspectives can we place them? How, in return, can the anthropology and archaeology of non-European societies contribute renewed perspectives on "Western" archaeology?
Archaeologists and anthropologists compare their views on non-Western cultures and present here recent advances in the field of research, placing the emphasis on the prehistory of these societies.
The symposium offers a tour of contemporary “Black Literatures”.
However, as indicated by the plural and the quotation marks, such a project necessarily implies the need to question ourselves on the reality and even the relevance of this category in the field of contemporary literature. The category “black literatures” is the product of a singular history…
This colloquium offers a cross-disciplinary analysis of the rituals resulting from traditional societies and performances produced by contemporary artists.
The event will employ contributions from two scientific cultures: on one hand anthropology, heir to a long-standing debate on the question of ritual, and on the other art history, a discipline directly concerned by artistic performances, but also curious about non-western traditions...
Read the minutes of the “Performance, art and anthropology" colloquium
Co-publication of the INHA and the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
This symposium proposes to review the relationships between the history of art and anthropology after the opening of the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in Paris (June, 2006). The method chosen is to invite historians of art and anthropologists to reflect together in the same symposium on works of art and their methodologies for addressing them...
Read the proceedings of the Symposium on the History of Art and Anthropology
The musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac opened its doors in June 2006. On this occasion, renowned personalities from the entire world gathered together around tables to conduct a fundamental reflection on the future of such an institution.
Who owns the objects? What is the place of contemporary art in a museum devoted essentially to traditional art; is the museum a lay area or can it claim to be sacred area? What kind of discourse should be held on the works of art? How should the problem of authenticity be addressed? How should intangible heritage be displayed? Which audiences are being addressed? What is the role of international cooperation?
These are some of the many issues to which researchers, artists, curators, philosophers and writers have attempted to respond, with this wish, shared by everyone, that the mission of the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac be to open out onto the world, to develop exchanges with the countries of origin of the collections and to enrich themselves on the basis of this permanent dialogue.
On June 21, 2006, artists, researchers, curators and writers came from around the world to celebrate the opening of the museum and outline together how to participate in its development.
Collection Babel • 448 pages • 10,50 €
Co-publication of musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac and Actes Sud
dissemination Actes Sud
978-2-742768-61-5