My sabbatical has been devoted to the writing of a monograph on colonial objects in 17th century Sweden, addressed to an international research community: The King’s Tomahawk. Colonial Objects in Early Modern Sweden, and Today. The study takes place at the intersection between two highly topical research fields: European colonial history and the history of the museum as a typically European institution. By means of previously unnoticed archival sources and the close study of preserved objects, the study elucidates the ways in which these two histories are closely intertwined: while colonialism, and the global circulation of objects that it entailed, stimulated collecting and display among Europe’s political, financial and cultural elites, the increasing desire for rare collectibles was an important driving force for colonial exploitation. More specifically, the book sheds light on the role of Sweden in these intertwined histories: Sweden’s colonial enterprises in the 17th century – in North America, West Africa and northern Scandinavia – have left palpable material traces in the shape of objects in museums and displays. The study of these objects contributes to the understanding of Sweden’s colonial past and the ways in which it still marks our present.

The history of colonialism and the history of the museum converge on what I call ‘colonial objects’, a concept that is being defined and theorized for the first time in my study. By colonial object, I refer to an object that is acquired by the colonizer in a colonial encounter, as a gift or by way of barter, purchase, theft or confiscation. The colonial object is formed or transformed as a result of the colonial encounter, sometimes materially, always epistemologically and conceptually. Physical violence may be directed against the object, giving evidence of the strong and ambivalent emotions that it may arouse: curiosity, desire, wonder, aversion, fear. After having been acquired, the object is forced to migrate over geopolitical and cultural borders. The concept of ‘colonial object’ emphasizes the precarious and disputed predicament of the objects, but also their central role in the colonial encounter.

The book consists of three parts, the first of which is a study of the collecting and display of colonial objects in 17th century Sweden. By means of close studies of three different types of collections – the Royal Kunstkammer at Tre Kronor castle in Stockholm, the armory of Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel at Skokloster north of Stockholm, and the Kunstkammer of humanist and professor Johannes Schefferus in Uppsala – I examine practices of collecting and display with a focus on the values and meanings attached to colonial objects. It appears that these objects were not displayed as a distinct category, but that they rather formed part of non-hierarchical juxtapositions with European artworks, archaeological finds, scientific instruments, and natural-history specimens. Colonial objects played an important, yet often ambivalent role in these displays. On the one hand, they were trophies, or materializations of Sweden’s colonial power. On the other hand, they were objects of wonder, admiration and the search for knowledge.

The second part of the book consists of object biographies, tracing the physical, institutional and conceptual migrations of colonial objects, from the 17th-century colonial contact zones to the ethnographic and other museums of today. Here it is shown that the objects rarely, if ever, corresponded to the romantic view – formed in the early days of colonialism and still rehearsed in ethnographic museums – of being authentic traces of an untouched culture. As regards material, shape or symbols, these objects were involved in a colonial exchange from the very beginning. They are hybrids, or material articulations of border experiences. Their values and meanings cannot be separated from their status as colonial objects. Acquisitions, transformations and migrations are important, meaning-making aspects of the objects.

The third and last part takes its point of departure in the fact that colonial objects are not merely traces of a historical past, but also tangibly present in the museums of today. As contemporary museum pieces, they raise urgent questions about belonging, possession, and representation, of lingering colonial structures and the prospects for decolonization. With what right are these objects displayed in the museums of the colonial powers? Are there ways to display them without reproducing colonial stereotypes? What are we to do with the objects? What might they do to us? I propose that we may actually learn something from historical practices of display, not least the manifoldness, ambivalence and lack of hierarchies in the 17th century Kunstkammer. We must be able to see and make visible the traces of colonial violence in our museums without letting that prevent us from appreciating the richness and beauty of the colonial objects. In their capacity as hybrids or border objects, these objects may also contribute to making visible the hierarchies and dichotomies that mark the modern Western museum and display system: art/ethnography, nature/culture, European/non-European. By means of their power to lay bare the limited historical and cultural scope of these hierarchies and dichotomies, colonial objects might rightfully claim a place at the center of the topical and urgent discussion on the current and future relevance of museums.

The book addresses an international research community and it connects on to highly topical fields of research. It has, therefore, been of crucial importance for the quality of the book that I have had the opportunity to work and meet scholars abroad. German research plays a leading role in the field of museum history and theory. I have spent three months as visiting scholar at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, on the invitation of Professor Charlotte Klonk. Towards the end of the stay, I presented my research at a well-attended lecture. English universities play a leading role in research on imperialism, colonialism and globalization, in relation to objects and materiality. On the invitation of Professor Michael Hatt, I visited the University of Warwick. A workshop on ‘colonial objects’, arranged on account of my visit, offered a valuable occasion to meet and talk to scholars from a number of English universities. Further, I gave a keynote lecture at an international conference in Lund on ‘Emotions, Curiosa and Collecting in Early Modern Sweden and Beyond’, arranged by Jacqueline van Gent, director of the Centre for the History of Emotions, University of Western Australia.

At my home university, I have likewise had valuable exchange with scholars from different disciplines. Together with scholars from the Department of Archaeology, I arranged a workshop on materiality and agency, two interlinked theoretical issues of great importance for my study. At the end of the year, I presented my study in a keynote lecture at a research day at my department. My current research has also led to a session on ‘Decolonial Aesthetics: A View from the North’ to be held at the international art historical conference NORDIK 2018. Finally, I have been invited to act as a dialogue partner in a larger research project at The University of Tromsø: ‘Zones of Contact and Rejection: Sámi Literacy, Art and Memory in Early Modern Scandinavia’, directed by Professor Trude A. Fonneland.

The monograph is the fundamental result of my sabbatical. Unfolding the role of Sweden in the histories of colonialism and the museum, the book shows how these intertwined histories still mark our present. By means of the concept of colonial objects, the book makes visible a group of objects that has been concealed by predominant hierarchies and dichotomies. I show how these objects, from the very beginning, are inscribed in the colonial encounter. In their capacity as border objects, these objects may contribute to laying bare hierarchies, dichotomies and ethnocentrisms that govern current practices of museum and display. By extension, they deserve a place at the center of the current discussion on the relevance of museums.

A number of future research questions unfold from the study. One question regards the increasing interest in the early modern Kunstkammer, not only among scholars but also in the contemporary art world. What does that say about our time? What new insights might it give about the Kunstkammer as a historical display practice? I imagine a project that in an innovative way lets present meet the past. Colonial objects and their histories also connect on to the emergent theoretical field of decolonial aesthetics, combining local aesthetic practices with transcultural theoretical discourse. Sweden and the North have so far played a marginal role in this field. What might we get sight of by directing the concept of decolonial aesthetics to Nordic contexts and localities? In what ways might that contribute to the transcultural discourse?