By analyzing one of the world's greatest collections of Indigenous song, myth, and ceremony--the collections of linguist/anthropologist T. G. H. Strehlow--
Ceremony Men demonstrates how inextricably intertwined ethnographic collections can become in complex historical and social relations. In revealing his process to return an anthropological collection to Aboriginal communities in remote central Australia, Jason M. Gibson highlights the importance of personal rapport and collaborations in ethnographic exchange, both past and present, and demonstrates the ongoing importance of sociality, relationship, and orality when Indigenous peoples encounter museum collections today. Combining forensic historical analysis with contemporary ethnographic research, this book challenges the notion that anthropological archives will necessarily become authoritative or dominant statements on a people's cultural identity. Instead, Indigenous peoples will often interrogate and recontextualize this material with great dexterity as they work to reintegrate the documented into their present-day social lives.
By theorizing the nature of the documenter-documented relationships this book makes an important contribution to the simplistic postcolonial generalizations that dominate analyses of colonial interaction. A story of local agency is uncovered that enriches our understanding of the human engagements that took, and continue to take, place within varying colonial relations of Australia.
Industry Reviews
"Ceremony Men makes a fine addition to a growing scholarship on engaging with and making sense of historical collections of Aboriginal material today, particularly contentious collections that carry a fraught legacy ... Through this grounded, localised, collaborative and relational encounter with a valuable, if opaque, collection, Gibson contributes another seminal case study to a growing body of scholarship that insists upon working collaboratively, relationally and respectfully on historical collections and archives." - Australian Historical Studies
"Ceremony Men is a rich and thoughtful book, of great value to historians, anthropologists and those thinking about museums." - History Australia
"...[the book] makes an important case in highlighting the historical and contemporary value embedded within Australian ethnographic collections. Importantly, beyond his detailed study of the Strehlow collection, Gibson calls attention to the ongoing need for such critical research, as well as providing support for exploring improvements in the collaborative management and care of these collections." - Anthropological Forum
"This is an unusual, indeed quite a wonderful book that will become a classic of anthropological and historical/archival research and analysis. Gibson fundamentally rethinks the role of Aboriginal agency in helping and shaping museum collections." - Howard Morphy, Australian National University
"Gibson's engagement with the Indigenous descendants and participants to the making of an ethnographic collection, and his pursuit of the continuing social lives and value of the materials exchanged is extraordinary. This is a very valuable contribution to the literature, comparable with Nicholas Thomas's classic Entangled Objects, and as a case study of the social life of archival materials, it is quite a brilliant and profound case." - Fred Myers, New York University
