Returns and Reconnections

An interdisciplinary collection exploring how Indigenous and descent communities in Africa, Australia, and the Pacific connect with the deep past through material heritage

This open access collection explores the many ways in which Indigenous and descent communities in Africa, Australia, and the Pacific form connections with the deep past by engaging with their material heritage.

Featuring nine chapters and six responses by leading and emerging international archaeologists, historians, museum researchers, and museum practitioners, all of which are designed or co-designed in collaboration with Indigenous activists and knowledge holders, the book makes space for different concepts of time and history, as well as for diverse ways of talking about and using the past in the present. Together, these reflections speak to how the actions and legacies of collectors and researchers have affected and continue to affect Indigenous relationships with the deep past,. Ultimately, it points to how such work can better shape opportunities for people today to engage with the material traces of their ancestors.

For its timely interventions into the key concerns in museums and heritage theory and practice, this is a go-to resources for researchers, postgraduates, and practitioners interested in Indigenous studies, heritage studies, and postcolonial studies.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on Bloomsbury Collections. Open access was funded by Australian National University.