Figurer uden grund. Museumsansamlinger og globale klimaforandringer

Resumé

Denne artikel har to nøje sammenhængende forehavender: Dels skriver den en udstilling frem på baggrund af et etnografisk indsamlingsprojekt, hvor bestemte genstande er hjembragt fra hele verden for at kaste lys over de globale klima- forandringer. Dels afprøver den et særligt analytisk greb om disse genstande til at belyse, hvordan ting overhovedet kan komme til syne som objekter i antro- pologiske analyser. Dermed udforsker artiklen overordnet, hvordan skabelsen af analyseenheder kan tænkes i såvel etnografisk museumsarbejde som i antropolo- giske analyser i bredere forstand. Det foreslås, at denne proces må anses som en dynamisk og kreativ figurering af verden, hvilket indebærer, at genstandene for et givent musealt eller antropologisk blik har analyse indlejret i sig. Det overordnede argument er, at objekter i antropologiske analyser, uanset om de udfolder sig på museer eller i tekster, aldrig taler for sig selv og ikke kan ses som givne og naturlige enkeltdele i et lige så givent og naturligt system. Figur og grund medproducerer hinanden, hvorved grunden kun kan komme til syne som yderligere en figur. Dette åbner muligheden for at se analyse som en generativ proces snarere end som en dekonstruktion eller repræsentation.

Søgeord: analyseenheder, etnografika, figurering, kreativitet, museer, ting.

English: Figures without Ground: Museum Collections and Global Climate Changes

This article has two closely related ambitions. For one thing, it conjures up an exhibition on the basis of an ethnographic collection, the point of which is to display global climate change through artefacts brought home from all around 

the world. For another, it explores a specific analytical take on these artefacts in order to discuss how things come to life as objects of anthropological analysis. The article thus addresses the general question of how we might think about the creation of units of analysis in ethnographic museum practice as well as in anthropology. It is suggested that this process can be seen as a dynamic and creative figuration of the world, which implies that the objects of any anthropological gaze already have analyses enfolded in them. The overall argument is that objects of anthropological analysis, whether expressed in museums or in texts, never speak for themselves and thereby cannot be seen as natural and given particulars in an equally natural and given system. Figure and ground co-produce each other, whereby any ground can only emerge as yet another figure. This paves the way for understanding analysis as a generative process rather than as deconstruction or representation.

Keywords: Analytical objects, museums, ethnographic artefacts, things, creativity