Poking holes in things: A view from the museum

This paper is not intended as a conventional research report, but rather as an experimental ‘think piece’ that attempts to situate African beads in relation to alternative geographical, temporal and theoretical frames. Throughout the history of archaeology, museums have (re)assembled artefacts to create new contexts for them by establishing new associations and juxtapositions with other artefacts. In pursuing a similar approach, this paper attempts to constitute a ‘view from the museum’ rather than from any particular disciplinary field. Museum practice promises an alternative model of speculative ‘free association’ where artefactual form enables sometimes seemingly unlikely connections to be made. The paper’s intention is to highlight the theoretical richness with which beads can be approached as artefacts. In pursuing this agenda, it builds on David Graeber’s important work synthesising and advancing anthropological theories of economic, political and cultural value. A central aim of Graeber’s project was to put coins back in their place as rather peculiar denominators of value. Beads, with their considerably deeper history and wider geographical distribution, offer an alternative starting point from which to address questions of value in human lives.