'Naga trophy heads' removed as British museum seeks to rectify colonial past

Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum revealed major changes to displays as part of the "decolonisation process" as it prepares to reopen its doors after months of COVID-19 induced lockdown. After a three-year-long comprehensive review led by its director, Laura Van Broekhoven, the museum has decided to remove artifacts from its displays, particularly those that are closely tied to British Imperial expansion. The museum will open for the public from September 22 onwards. 

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The museum has removed 120 Human Remains from open display including the well-known South American Shuar tsantas (also known as the ‘shrunken heads’), Naga trophy heads, and an Egyptian mummy of a child. All items have now been moved into storage as of now.  The museum still has over 2800 human remains from different parts of the world and is actively reaching out to descendant communities over the next years to find the most appropriate way to care for these complex items. 

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'Reinforced racist thinking'

"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’. Rather than enabling our visitors to reach a deeper understanding of each other’s ways of being, the displays reinforced racist and stereotypical thinking that goes against the Museum’s values today. The removal of the human remains also brings us in line with sector guidelines and code of ethics," Laura Van Broekhoven said in a statement on the museum's website.

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The decision comes at a time when racial protests are gaining traction across the world, including in the United Kingdom as people are seeking re-examination of objects taken by the Empire from its colonies. The western world has been witnessing protests after the brutal killing of African-American man George Floyd in Minnesota, USA. Since then, many places have seen violent clashes between the police and civil society, demolition of colonial- and confederate-era statues, and demand to end systematic racism.  

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