A Hobbling Marriage: On the Relationship Between the Collections and the Societal Mission of the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm

Abstract

In the late 19th century, the new Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm was a cutting-edge institution for the presentation of ideas of a universal human development from primitive to modern —ideas that were at the heart of the European colonial project. We argue that the archaeological collections with their unaltered 19th-century structures still represent a narrative that reproduces a colonial understanding of the world, a linear arrangement of essential cultural groups according to a teleological development model. Contrary to this, the contemporary mission of the Museum, inspired by the late 20th-century postcolonial thinking, is directed towards questioning this particular narrative. This problematic relationship is thus present deep within the structure of the Museum of National Antiquities as an institution, and it points to the need for long-term strategic changes to make the collections useful for vital museum activity in accordance with the Museum's mission.