Thick provenance: Interactions between European and local collecting practices refracted through the lens of the mainland Southeast Asia material at t

This interdisciplinary research project is a critical and comparative history of collecting in mainland Southeast Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries. It proposes to examine the biographies of the British Museum's mainland Southeast Asian collections, and to incorporate the analysis of modes of object ownership, of perceptions of value, and of exchange practices with reference to the accumulation of family heirlooms and communal palladia (sources of protection and legitimation), as well as to diverse modes of object circulation.
Whilst attending to the Southeast Asian collections as a whole the project will bring a particular focus to the art and history of ethnic Shan and Kachin communities, objects associated with which feature as a large part of the collection. The project will make a significant contribution to the development of improved understanding of, and thus also to the interpretation of, the collected objects. The ethnographic fieldwork element in particular will contribute to the improved understanding of how artefacts are made and their symbolic meanings within particular cultural contexts.

Key research questions
- What specific forms of object ownership, perceptions of value, and modes of exchange were operating in the selected mainland Southeast Asian region and time period?
- How did multiple European and local spheres of operation overlap and intersect at specific historical moments?
- How did the current shape of the British Museum's mainland Southeast Asian collections emerge from these encounters?
- How can the investigation of these processes enrich the concept of provenance to expand beyond traditional biographies of collectors and descriptions of objects in their cultural context?