Event Date: 19 May 2015

Wolfson Room 1
Institute of Historical Research,
Senate House,
Malet Street,
London WC1E 7HU

The Humanities and Arts Research Centre at Royal Holloway University of London presents:

World Museums: Geographies and Genealogies

Speakers: Anthony Shelton (Director of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Briitsh Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) and Annie E. Coombes (Professor of Material and Visual Culture & Director of the Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck, University of London)

This HARC Dialogues event will focus on the idea of the world museum, as expressed originally in the concept of the universal or encyclopaedic museum, and reinvented for the twenty-first century in museums of world cultures: the world, its peoples and their objects, brought under one roof. What does it mean to define  the remit and audiences of museums as global? Does it matter where museums are located? What obligations do world museums have to local, national, diasporic or displaced populations? How should world museums deal with difficult and dissonant heritage? What is the relationship between the world museum and world heritage?

In collaboration with the London Group of Historical Geographers

Introduction by Professor Felix Driver (RHUL):

Anthony Shelton (Director of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Briitsh Columbia, Vancouver, Canada):

Annie E. Coombes (Professor of Material and Visual Culture & Director of the Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck, University of London):

Audience Questions: