Musée du Quai Branly in Museum Anthropology

As a biannual print journal, Museum Anthropology cannot enter into global debates in the same fashion that, for instance, the major world newspapers can, but I think that the journal can play a significant role in other ways, even when stories seem to have a time-sensitive character. In the forthcoming issue of Museum Anthropology (volume 29, number 2), Peter Naumann, of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the Australian National University, presents an compelling interview with Stéphane Martin, president of the newly openned Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (http://www.quaibranly.fr/). Beyond its immediate interest to museum anthropologists, the interview will, I think, provide a key primary document for the longer-term debates and reflections that are to come. I hope that future issues of Museum Anthropology can feature articles that recount the foundational history of this new museum, explore its relations with its anticeedent and peer-institutions, and that examine the significance of this new institution for the wider fields of museum anthropology and non-western art history.

In the meantime, a review of the new museum can be found in the New York Times for July 2, 2006. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/arts/design/02kimm.html?pagewanted=1

As always, scholars interested in contributing to Museum Anthropology are encouraged to be in touch, museanth@indiana.edu.