Chip Colwell: Why museums are returning cultural treasures
Chip Colwell: Por que os museus estão devolvendo tesouros culturais
Chip Colwell is an archaeologist who tries to answer the tangled question: Who owns the past? Full bio
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and a museum curator,
back to where they came from.
aos seus locais de origem.
they're social and educational,
social e educativa,
because of the magic of objects:
é a magia dos objetos:
de um milhão de anos,
to gaze upon our human empire of things
observar o nosso império humano de coisas,
somente dos EUA,
visits each year.
de visitantes por ano.
have become a battleground.
se tornaram um campo de batalha.
don't want to see their culture
não querem ver sua cultura
which they have no control over.
sobre as quais elas não têm controle.
culturais repatriados,
to their places of origin.
of the Parthenon Marbles,
dos Mármores de Elgin,
held by the British Museum.
sob a custódia do Museu Britânico.
devolva artefatos antigos.
querem que sejam devolvidas
from museums everywhere.
de museus de toda parte.
to those made by Native Americans.
aos dos povos nativos americanos.
more than one million artifacts
mais de 1 milhão de artefatos
of Native American skeletons.
de povos nativos americanos.
let's start with the War Gods.
comecemos pelos deuses da guerra.
of the Zuni tribe in New Mexico.
no Novo México.
began to collect them
começaram a coletá-los
dos índios norte-americanos.
of Picasso and Paul Klee,
de Picasso e Paul Klee,
the modern art movement.
ao movimento de arte moderna.
did exactly as it's supposed to
o que devia com o deus da guerra.
de arte pouco conhecida
a little-known art form
a terrible crime of cultural violence.
um crime terrível de violência cultural.
is not a piece of art,
não é uma peça de arte,
novos deuses da guerra,
in a long ceremony.
cerimônia ritualística.
um deus da guerra.
que os museus os devolvam
should be returned.
devam ser devolvidos.
do arqueólogo mais famoso do mundo:
contradicts the refrain
not just to drive movie plots,
não apenas para a trama dos filmes,
of museums for society.
o bem inquestionável
with the Sonoran Desert's past.
do Deserto de Sonora.
the city's bland strip malls
debaixo das lojas sem graça da cidade,
just waiting to be discovered.
esperando para serem descobertos.
I started taking archaeology classes
aulas de arqueologia
até me ajudou a montar um laboratório
even helped me set up my own laboratory
had a dark history.
tinha um passado obscuro.
became a tool for science,
se tornaram uma ferramenta para a ciência,
of social and racial hierarchies.
de hierarquias sociais e raciais.
were plundered from graves,
foram saqueados de seus túmulos,
encontravam túmulos de brancos,
came across white graves,
enterrados novamente
as specimens on museum shelves.
como amostras nas prateleiras dos museus.
boarding schools,
internatos, leis proibindo religião,
were on the cusp of extinction.
estavam à beira da extinção.
but the labels don't matter
mas os rótulos não importam
that over the last century,
de que, ao longo do último século,
were taken from them.
dos povos nativos lhes foram tirados.
de protestos dos povos nativos,
through the US Congress,
por meio do Legislativo,
Native Americans to reclaim
reivindicassem itens culturais,
and human remains from museums.
que estavam em museus.
entender perfeitamente
how a piece of wood can be a living god
pode ser um deus vivo,
especially with DNA,
principalmente com a análise de DNA,
into the past.
Frank Norwick declared,
that benefits all of mankind.
e beneficia toda a humanidade.
all of this was an enigma
difícil de decifrar.
queriam seu patrimônio devolvido
want their heritage back
spend their entire lives
passar uma vida inteira
about living ones?
com os indígenas vivos?
what to do next,
o que fazer depois disso.
former prison cell on Robben Island.
ficou preso, na Ilha Robben.
a country bridge vast divides
um país a superar grandes diferenças
reconciliation.
a buscar uma reconciliação.
in the ruins of the past?
de esperança nos erros do passado?"
no Museu de Natureza e Ciência de Denver.
of Nature and Science.
diferente de muitas outras instituições,
many other institutions,
the legacy of museum collecting.
a cultura de coleta dos museus.
the skeletons in our closet,
em nosso acervo,
we met with dozens of tribes
com dezenas de tribos
esses restos mortais.
these remains home.
who will receive the remains,
os restos mortais,
become undertakers,
se tornam agentes funerários,
they had never wanted unearthed.
que jamais quiseram ver desenterrados.
e nossos parceiros nativos
and our Native partners
of the human remains in the collection.
os restos mortais da coleção.
hundreds of sacred objects.
de objetos sagrados.
that these battles are endless.
batalhas são infindas.
of the museum world.
permanente do mundo dos museus.
more museums with more stuff.
em museus públicos nos EUA
in an American public museum
beyond the reach of US law,
das leis norte-americanas,
and outside our borders.
e fora das nossas fronteiras.
with a respected religious leader
com um líder religioso respeitado,
named Octavius Seowtewa
chamado Octavius Seowtewa,
in Europe with War Gods.
na Europa com deuses da guerra.
with a history of dubious care.
com um histórico de cuidados duvidosos.
had added chicken feathers to it.
tinha adicionado penas de galinha ao deus.
roubado uma vez.
da guerra de lá é propriedade do Estado,
is now state property
no longer served Zunis
não servia mais aos zuni,
of the objects to the world."
todos os objetos ao mundo".
would establish a dangerous precedent
criaria um precedente perigoso
claimed by Greece.
que a Grécia reivindicava.
to his people empty-handed.
para seu povo, de mãos vazias.
the Ahayu:da so far away.
os Ahayu:da tão longe.
that's missing from a family dinner.
que falta num jantar de família.
their strength is broken."
a força deles não é a mesma".
in Europe and beyond
na Europa e outros locais
do not represent the end of museums
não representam o fim dos museus,
about one percent
1% do total das coleções.
500 cultural items and skeletons,
500 itens culturais e esqueletos,
of its total collections.
do total de suas coleções.
zuni tradicionais,
roupas e peças de arte.
with Native Americans
com os povos nativos americanos
to share their culture with us.
que compartilhem sua cultura conosco.
to visit the returned War Gods.
os deuses da guerra devolvidos,
overlooking beautiful Zuni homeland.
com a vista da bela terra natal dos zuni.
by a roofless stone building
de uma construção de pedra sem teto,
para que não sejam roubados de novo.
of turquoise, cornmeal, shell,
de turquesas, fubá, conchas
true purpose in the world.
dos deuses da guerra no mundo.
the histories that we inherit.
a história que herdamos.
did not pillage ancient graves
não saquearam túmulos antigos
for correcting past mistakes.
de corrigir os erros do passado.
a esperança e a humanidade
the voiceless objects of our curiosity.
o objeto sem voz da nossa curiosidade.
to fully understand others' beliefs,
completamente as crenças dos outros,
para coisas do passado.
places for living cultures.
lugares para culturas vivas.
turn lazy circles high above.
lentamente em círculos no céu.
that their culture is not dead and gone
deles não está morta nem extinta,
for the War Gods to be.
para os deuses da guerra estarem.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chip Colwell - Archaeologist, museum curatorChip Colwell is an archaeologist who tries to answer the tangled question: Who owns the past?
Why you should listen
Chip Colwell is an archaeologist and museum curator who has published 11 books that invite us to rethink how Native American history is told. His essays have appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian and TIME, while his research has been highlighted in the New York Times, BBC, Forbes and elsewhere. Most recently, he wrote Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America’s Culture, which The Wall Street Journal dubbed "a careful and intelligent chronicle" and won a 2018 Colorado Book Award.
In 1990, Colwell fell in love with archaeology. Still in high school, he decided to make a life for himself discovering ancient windswept ruins across the American Southwest. But in college he discovered that archaeologists have not always treated Native Americans with respect. In museums were thousands of Native American skeletons, grave goods and sacred objects -- taken with the consent of Native communities. Disheartened, he planned to leave the field he revered. But an epiphany struck that instead he should help develop a new movement in archaeology and museums based on the dignity and rights of Native Americans.
When Colwell was hired as a curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, he had the chance to address the dark legacies of museum collecting. He and his colleagues began consulting with hundreds of tribes about the return of skeletons and sacred objects. In this work, Colwell realized, too, there was an important story to share that explored vital questions. Why do museums collect so many things? Why is it offensive to some that museums exhibit human remains and religious items? What are the legal rights of museums -- and the moral claims of tribes? What do we lose when artifacts go home? And what do we gain?
Chip Colwell | Speaker | TED.com