This groundbreaking book tells the untold story of Indonesian Islam in museums. Often overshadowed by Hindu-Buddhist art, Indonesian Islamic heritage rarely receives the attention it deserves in museum collections and exhibitions. This book unravels the historical silences rooted in Dutch colonial rule that have marginalized Indonesian Islamic material culture. Delving into the colonial archives, it traces the journey of Indonesian objects in Dutch museums, exploring their original meanings and their re-appropriation during instances of collecting, classification, interpretation and public display. Through this lens, the book addresses the enduring impacts of colonialism and offers pathways for the decolonization of museums today.
Prologue
List of Figures and Tables
1 The Making and Unmaking of Islam in Museums: An Introduction
1Colonial Collections
2Islamic Objects and Dutch Imperialism
3Approaching Objects
4Frames and Framings
5Outline of the Book
Part 1: Sources and Foundations
2 Analysing Museum Holdings from Indonesia
1Collecting Islam in Colonial Indonesia
2Analysis of the Collections from Muslim Indonesia in the Netherlands
3Looking Through the Lens of the Islamic
3 Collecting in Java and Aceh
1Collecting in Java
2Collecting in Aceh
3Memories of Collecting
4 Collecting Islamic Objects: Manuscripts and Gravestones
1Manuscripts: Communal Knowledge and Colonial Intelligence
2Gravestones: Sources for the History of Islam
5 Collecting Islamic Objects: Hajj-Related Items and Amulets
1Hajj Objects: between Benevolence and Surveillance
2Amulets: Taking Away Islamic Protection
3(Un)making the Memory of Islam
Part 2: Organising the Material Archive
6 Taxonomies: Nineteenth-Century Collections and Museum Narratives of Islam
1Categorising Islamic Things
2Separating Europe from Islam: the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities
3Separating Europe from Islam: the Museum of Antiquities
4The Consequences of Worlds Apart
5Taxonomic Durabilities
7 Making Classification: Indonesian Islam in the Museum Catalogue
1Classification and Museum Practice
2Histories of Classification: the Twelve-Group Model
3Classification and Framings of Islam
4Durabilities of Classification
Part 3: Narratives of Indonesian Islam
8 New Imaginings of Indonesian Islamic Art
1Framings of Muslim Things
2Exhibitionary Framings
3Deframing and Reframing Indonesian Things
9 Conclusion: Reorganising the Memory of Islam in the Museum
1Islam, Memory and the Museum
2A Structural Injustice Approach to Islamic Collections
Appendix 1: List of Consulted Archives
Appendix 2: List of Dutch Museums and Collections
References
Index
Mirjam Shatanawi, Ph.D., University of Amsterdam, is Senior Lecturer of Heritage Theory at the Reinwardt Academy. She has published on Islamic heritage and museum collections, including Islam and Heritage in Europe (Routledge, 2021) and Islam at the Tropenmuseum (LM, 2014).
