Introduction to the Special Issue

Ethnographic and non-European art collections currently form a field that is particularly prominent in the public eye, since the methods of curating, exhibiting and working with cultural belongings have undergone significant changes over the past twenty years. These changes are rooted in postcolonial and decolonial approaches, especially since the institutions housing these collections are confronted with ongoing debates about their entanglement with histories of colonialism and unequal power relations. Consequently, new approaches were and still are needed to establish and sustain fair relationships between museums and the communities of the collections’ places of origin.