Decolonisation in Colonial Institutions-Reparative Approaches to Philippine Collections in a US Univ
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 2021-11-05

This event is part of the Decolonising Curating and the Museum in Southeast Asia lecture series.

Speaker:  Ricky Punzalan (University of Michigan)
Discussant: Cristina Martinez-Juan (SOAS)
Chair: Conan Cheong (Asian Civilisations Museum)

The sizable Philippine collections at the University of Michigan underscore this institution’s role in U.S. colonial expansion. Michigan faculty, students, and alumni came to the Philippines to teach, conduct field research, establish business ventures, and participate in colonial administration. This involvement resulted in the accumulation of one of the largest Philippine collections in North America. It is time for the University to address its colonial complicity in the formation of these collections by developing decolonial and anti-racist policies and practices. This presentation will discuss the current efforts to develop alternative ways to represent and provide access to Philippine materials held by the University’s Bentley Historical Library, the Special Collections Research Center, and the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology. This project asks: What constitutes reparative work in the decolonization of the University’s Philippine collections? This effort will: 1. define what it means to pursue decolonial praxis for Philippine collections; 2. identify institutional obligations and articulating reparative work; 3. reimagine community engagement; and finally, 4. decenter colonial provenance to better represent Indigenous communities and knowledge to understand the full extent of the collection.