Displaced Objects and Meanings. A Few Remarks on the Fang Mask, Masawa Canoes and Kachina Dolls

Each of the artefacts mentioned in the title is an exemplification of products of the anthropological “Other”. Each of them comes from a distinct geographical region and represents an entirely different culture. However, all of them have been connected together in the Western culture realia as a result of a particular type of displacements. The first displacement involved their physical migration – first to European museums of natural history and ethnological museums. The next one resulted in their emergence on the market of exotic “oddities” whereas yet another displacement located them within the conceptual framework delimited by the artistic discourse. This last displacement shows that it is very difficult to understand or “translate” one culture into another because the conceptual framework of the “translator” is always determined by their own culture