Dr. Alok Kumar Kanungo on 'Colonial efforts to collect objects belonging to the Nagas'
Oral Traditions: Continuity and Transformations, Northeast India and Southeast Asia, Shillong (1st-4th February, 2016);Conference
Description
Dr. Alok Kumar Kanungo spoke about colonial efforts to collect objects belonging to the Nagas (approximately 50,000 objects were collected). The collection that had been taken from the Naga Hills, was the collection that Haimendorf took in 1936 from the Wakching village, Nagaland, after a 7-month training (cited in 801 official records). Mr. Kanungo stressed that life never ends, and everyone claims the virtual object. Once the cultural objects are collected, it is essential to identify and define the context; it is equally important to stress on what is written about the context, and not merely on the object that is/was collected. It is often seen that the collected object ends up becoming the central object of curiosity, taking away from the context. He summed up by saying that with the changing times, a possibility of exploring a thematic change in approach of museum collections is becoming a necessity. While attracting the people from exposed societies, ethnology museums should try to reach the place/origin of collection, where the items collected a century or more ago, are still in use or the facts about them are still available in folklore.
Project Title
Oral Traditions: Continuity and Transformations, Northeast India and Southeast Asia, Shillong
DOCUMENT TYPE
image
Identifier:
SC_24
Related Term
Oral Traditions
Related place
Shillong
USE RESTRICTIONS
In Copyright
RIGHTS HOLDER
INTACH
