Opening the New Street Almirah: The Properties of Culture in British India

TY - UNPB

T1 - Opening the New Street Almirah

T2 - The Properties of Culture in British India

AU - Kapila, Kriti

PY - 2020/12/15

Y1 - 2020/12/15

N2 - This paper is based on archival documents related to disputes surrounding objects from British India destined for the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. Disputes emerged around ownership and dispositional control between colonial officials and the original owners as to whether these objects were a loan or gift to the colonial state, a consignment for international trade, or a contribution to the Exhibitions, but were ultimately designated res nullius through theft and misappropriation. In following their contested journeys with an anthropological lens the paper reveals the numerous exchange strategies though which ownership was erased and re-inscribed, thereby providing the colonial state a domain made of ‘res’ or things, through which it could consolidate its sovereignty.

AB - This paper is based on archival documents related to disputes surrounding objects from British India destined for the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. Disputes emerged around ownership and dispositional control between colonial officials and the original owners as to whether these objects were a loan or gift to the colonial state, a consignment for international trade, or a contribution to the Exhibitions, but were ultimately designated res nullius through theft and misappropriation. In following their contested journeys with an anthropological lens the paper reveals the numerous exchange strategies though which ownership was erased and re-inscribed, thereby providing the colonial state a domain made of ‘res’ or things, through which it could consolidate its sovereignty.

U2 - 10.18742/pub01-039

DO - 10.18742/pub01-039

M3 - Working paper

SP - 1

EP - 31

BT - Opening the New Street Almirah

PB - King's College London

CY - London

ER -