Join the Exhibition Histories Reading Group for this special end of year event

13.00-14.30 BST, Tuesday 20 July 2021
Online – Microsoft Teams 

‘100 Histories of 100 Worlds in One Object’
with Dr. Laura Osorio Sunnucks

How many stories can an object have? The British Museum’s popular programme ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ was based upon the assumption that objects have singular and universal narratives. ‘100 Histories of 100 Worlds in One Object’ focuses on voices from the ‘Global South’ and formerly subaltern people that this programme left out.

Where are the stories of the objects presented as seen by people who once used them? How was knowledge about an object informed by colonial collecting practices; and how is context presented in museums today? Could an entirely new ‘History of the World in 100 Objects’ be told, and if so, how? Can a history of the world be told through a certain number of objects at all? How can formerly excluded voices be empowered to tell their own histories beyond these frameworks?

Dr. Laura Osorio Sunnacks is Head of the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research at the British Museum and a member of the ‘100 Histories of 100 Worlds in One Object’ programme. She will introduce us to the programme’s objectives, methodologies, work thus far and plans for the future.

There will be time for an open discussion drawing upon and responding to Laura’s insights, and we encourage attendees to read in advance an object biography that was co-written by Laura.

Please email Andrea at a.potts@brighton.ac.uk to register for this event in advance and to access the Teams group.