Researcher João Gabriel Caia, from the University of Évora, participates in an international academic debate on museums, heritage and colonial legacies. Caia is a member of the Institute of Contemporary History and IN2PAST, and will present work focused on the Egyptian collection of the National Museum of Archaeology, proposing a post-colonial approach to transnational collecting associated with the Portuguese royal family.
Caia's intervention is part of the session titled "Spaces, exhibitions and legacies of the colonial past", which analyzes how museums, exhibitions and collections relate to different dimensions of colonial history. The panel is chaired by Afonso Dias Ramos, researcher at the Art History Institute of NOVA FCSH and IN2PAST, and brings together researchers from various European institutions.
The work proposes an analysis of the Egyptian collection of the National Museum of Archaeology from a post-colonial perspective, focusing on the transnational collecting of the Portuguese royal family. This research is part of Caia's PhD in History and Philosophy of Science, in the specialization of Museology, at the University of Évora, developed with an FCT-DGPC grant.
The research addresses the construction of Egyptology and Egyptian collections in Portugal between 1850 and 1930, focusing on the scientific culture dynamics associated with the House of Braganza. The panel also includes presentations by Andrea Brait on cabinets of curiosities, Anjalie Dalal-Clayton and Ananda Rutherford on contested heritage in the United Kingdom, and Fernanda Quadros and Alice Nogueira Alves on narratives of slavery history in Portuguese museums.
