Željka Jelavić, A Difficult Heritage – on Colonialism, Racism and the Marginalised in Museums

The new exhibition of the Ethnographic Museum “Travellers” presents the Collection of Non-European Cultures, following the journeys of people and objects from colonial times to the present day. By highlighting individual traveling donors, we wanted to point out the historical contexts in which they operated and created their collections.   This opens numerous topics for discussion. The exhibition points to the connection between colonialism and the creation of national museums, the collection of objects from non-European cultures, and the beginnings of ethnology and cultural anthropology as a science. The exhibition addresses the relationship between museums and colonialism, the Western perspective on the exotic Other, and perpetuating of cultural stereotypes. Besides, as a counterpoint to the research on non-European cultures, contemporary ethnographic research from the scientific project ERIM – European Regime of Irregular Migration on the Periphery of the European Union (2020-2024) is presented. After a joint exhibition tour, I would like to encourage a discussion on the ways of interpreting and displaying objects from other cultures, Eurocentrism, and the relationship of museums to racism and colonialism. This topic is followed by a discussion about who is the Other in the Balkans and how the heritage of the Balkan Other is interpreted.