In November 1933 the room of Exotic Prehistory at the Musée d’ethnographie du Trocadéro (MET) was first opened. Initially focusing on Africa, the project evolved when Paul Rivet incorporated Asian territories into it. The organizing of the room was partly the result of the institutionalization and professionalization of the French Science of Man during the interwar period, which was common to both ethnographic and anthropological collections. However, the acquisition and management of prehistoric collections, particularly those from Indochina, had their own specificities. The aim of this article is to examine, from a museum perspective, the concept of exotic prehistory, the types of objects that are promoted through it and the ways in which it was created and used at the MET.
FR
La salle de Préhistoire exotique est inaugurée au Musée d’ethnographie du Trocadéro (MET) en novembre 1933. Initialement centrée sur l’Afrique, elle évolue vers une Préhistoire exotique lorsque Paul Rivet y intègre les territoires asiatiques. La mise en place de la salle découle de l’institutionnalisation et de la professionnalisation de la science de l’Homme français de l’entre–deux guerres, commune aux collections ethnographiques et anthropologiques. Cependant, l’acquisition et la prise en charge des collections préhistoriques, particulièrement indochinoises, présentent des spécificités. Le but de cet article est d’interroger, par le point de vue muséal, le concept de Préhistoire exotique, les types d’objets qu’il favorise et les modalités de sa constitution au MET.
The fact that ethnographical collections, often ancient, are preserved in archaeological museums nowadays might not be obvious. The material culture of living societies is not, indeed, the priority of archaeologists, who are mainly interested in societies of the past. However, a museological and historical approach makes it possible to study these collections and highlight their differential management according to institutions and epistemological developments in the human sciences, since the middle of the 19th century.
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