A museum has removed a huge collection of human remains – including a mummy and “shrunken heads” – following accusations of racism.
The 130-year-old Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University, which holds about 500,000 artefacts of anthropological, ethnographic and archaeological significance, said it had ditched the items as part of its efforts to “decolonise” its collection.Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University is removing a collection of human remains.
Some items attracted accusations of cultural insensitivity. Picture: Ian Wallman/Pitt Rivers Museum/University of Oxford“Our audience research has shown that visitors often saw the museum’s displays of human remains as a testament to other cultures being ‘savage’, ‘primitive’ or ‘gruesome’,’’ museum director Laura Van Broekhoven said, according to AP.
It’s the latest example of the global Black Lives Matter movement forcing communities and institutions to reckon with their colonial past.
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