From Objects to Measina: Reanimating the Sāmoan Collection at the Übersee-Museum Bremen in Cooperation with the National University of Samoa

Abstract

The last few years have seen increasing calls for German institutions to change their approach to collections from colonial contexts. Concomitantly, pressure has been put on museums to digitize and open up collections to new audiences, which has been further exacerbated by access issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article addresses developments at the Übersee-Museum Bremen as it seeks to re-examine, reorganize and reconnect its Oceanic (in particular Sāmoan) collection in partnership with the National University of Samoa (NUS). Through a collaborative approach that involves a curator and an academic intern of Sāmoan descent working in the museum in Bremen, the Übersee-Museum is revamping its museological practices and interpretation as it develops its first digital project on Oceania. Through workshops with partners in Sāmoa, the team develops topics and plans content informed by Sāmoan perspectives. Working across disciplinary boundaries, the exhibition highlights novel insights into fluid configurations of cultural practices and environmental cosmologies based on the interplay of material collections. This article examines some examples of the ways in which interpretative authority on the part of the curators in Bremen is relinquished and shifted towards Sāmoan perspectives on measina (treasures) within museum spaces, both physical and virtual.