Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Nordeuropa-Institut

Arresting Actors, Equivocal Translations: Anders Poulsen and his Drum – Monica Grini

Monica Grini is Assistant Professor at the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway. In her lecture she will explore the material dimensions of Sami artifacts in museums and their meaning for Sami art history.
  • Arresting Actors, Equivocal Translations: Anders Poulsen and his Drum – Monica Grini
  • 2019-05-21T18:00:00+02:00
  • 2019-05-21T20:00:00+02:00
  • Monica Grini is Assistant Professor at the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway. In her lecture she will explore the material dimensions of Sami artifacts in museums and their meaning for Sami art history.
  • Was Öffentliche Veranstaltung Henrik-Steffens-Vorlesung
  • Wann 21.05.2019 von 18:00 bis 20:00
  • Wo DOR24, Raum 3.134 (Brandes)
  • iCal

Arresting Actors, Equivocal Translations: Anders Poulsen and His Drum

Monica Grini
 is Assistant Professor in Media and Documentation Studies at the University of Tromsø. She holds a PhD in Art History. Her previous projects have centered on the articulation and representation of Sami art within the narratives and institutional structures of the national state, and more specifically within the discipline of Art History in Norway. 
Der Vortrag wird auf Englisch gehalten.
In 1691, the Sami noaidi Anders Poulsen and his drum were detained in Nesseby. Together they were subjected to examination by Danish-Norwegian authorities at the courthouse in Vadsø, the administrative centre in the county of Finnmark. The drum was eventually sent to Copenhagen and placed in the Royal Danish Art Chamber, whereas Poulsen was killed in custody while awaiting the judicial decision. The reasons for their arrest were the drum, the uses of it, and the harm it could do, according to the church and government. Paradoxically, at the same time as Sami drums were confiscated and, in many cases, destroyed, some were embarking on journeys as attractive collectors’ items. Today, Sami drums are frequently “arrested” in museum exhibitions as “shamanistic devices”, often echoing old tools and tropes of othering. In this talk, I will draw on ideas about “partial connections” (Strathern 2004) and “not only” (de la Cadena 2015) to bring forth more of the complexity of actors like Poulsen, his drum, and their traps, travels and translations through time and space.