COLLECTING RELATIONS IN MELANESIA: MAKING A CONTEMPORARY COLLECTION IN THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Abstract

In this paper I examine the response of Peter Kinjap, a Mondika man from Alkena village in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, to the British Museum's collection from his province. A major concern to emerge for Kinjap on viewing the objects was the lack of representation of his tribe, Mondika, in the collection. His response focused on this absence, rather than on challenging any perceived institutional or academic authoritative claim on the part of the museum to represent the 'other'. Towards the end of his visit, Kinjap suggested making a bilum (string bag) collection from his home village for the museum.' I discuss here the issues and concerns faced by Kinjap in confronting the absence of a Mondika collection, and subsequently in the making of the bilum collection for the museum. Melanesien attitudes to museums and their collections reflect concerns about the social practices and social relations surrounding objects, rather than a preoccupation with the preservation of objects per se.2 Sebastian Haraha suggests that one important function of today's National Museum of Papua New Guinea is its role as a haus tumbuna ('a house of the ancestors') where objects that may have dangerous associations can be housed safely (Haraha 2007: 138). Not all objects in the museum are dangerous, but some can be if their original owners no longer know the appropriate way to handle them. Some objects are fraught with ambiguity (see Bonshek 2008, 2009). Cultural centres reveal other emphases, focusing on the

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