The Museums of World Culture Lends Objects to Indigenous People in Taiwan

The Museums of World Culture and Shizi Township in Taiwan have entered into a cooperation agreement regarding the loan of objects from the collections managed by the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The residents of Shizi Township are part of the indigenous Paiwan people. The idea is that some 50 objects - collected in 1907 - will be displayed in an exhibition in Shizi Township from mid-2025 for six months.

In mid-June, a delegation from the Shizi Township Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm will come to study objects from Paiwan communities for a week, as part of the work before the exhibition. The Museums of World Culture manages over 300 objects from Taiwan, the vast majority of which have belonged to various indigenous peoples. About 50 of these—ceremonial items, clothing and utility items—come from various paiwan groups. According to available information in the archives, many of these were collected from the ancestors of the residents of today's Shizi Township. This particular group of the Paiwan people is called Tjakuvuljkuvulj.

- We are in a time when museums are rethinking their roles and relationships with people whose objects are collected, says Michel Lee, curator at The Museums of World Culture. Through this collaboration, Shizi Township hopes to help their community rediscover its past. By working with the descendants of an indigenous community, the objects and the knowledge about them are also brought back to life.

The collaboration with the Paiwan people can be seen as a continuation of work where the Museums of World Culture want to help enable indigenous peoples in rediscovering parts of their lost cultural heritage, which are in museum collections in Sweden.

On Wednesday, June 19, the delegation from Shizi Township will hold a public talk at the Museum of Ethnography. They will then talk about the history and culture of their people and what they hope to achieve through their work with the collections.

For more info:

Michel Lee, curator Museums of World Culture
michel.lee@varldskulturmuseerna.se
010- 456 1220

Press contact:
Tina Sjögren, press officer Museums of World Culture
tina.sjogren@varldskulturmuseerna.se