Settler colonialism, collecting and representing American Indian in 19th and early 20th century Denmark

Research seminar with Magdalena Naum, Senior Lecturer at Lund University.

Between 1868 and 1910, hundreds of thousands of Danes migrated to America seeking opportunities and cheap public land – former Indian Territory – made available through the Homestead Act (1862) and the Dawes Act (1887). Some of these migrants kept in touch with the families and communities they left behind through letters and material objects such as gifts and souvenirs.

Souvenirs, in the form of archaeological and more contemporary Native American artefacts, are an interesting, yet underexplored category of objects to study settler colonialism. They connect to the biographical experiences of the migrants and represent specific ideas of American Indians held by the settlers and those left behind. When sent directly to museums, or eventually donated by families of the migrants, indigenous objects were involved in constructing and perpetuating specific systems of knowledge.

In this talk, I will explore some of these objects. In particular, I will focus on an eclectic assemblage of arrowheads and an Ojibwa regalia dress (brought by Thomas Petersen) to highlight different biographical, representational and emotional affordances they once generated and continue to evoke.

All are welcome!