Figurations of Time: Artefacts, Images and Historical Experience

In this paper I reflect on the relationship between temporality, historicity and material culture. I focus my attention on the pivotal role of artefacts in generating people’s experience of time and in revealing ‘traces of history’, which might not be evident when considering solely action and words. My reflections are based on the ethnographic study of the role of artefacts in a collective ritual carried out by Guna people (Guna Yala, Panama). Looking at the material and visual qualities of these artefacts, how they are engaged with and attended to by specialists and laypersons, as well as the imaginary that such engagements generate, allows shedding light on important aspects of Guna historicity.

Drawing inspiration from works re-assessing Warburg’s notion of ‘survival’ and Deleuze’s discussion of ‘repetition’, I suggest that artefacts as ‘material indexes of time’ have the capacity to at the same time render visible and mask different aspects of history, generating complex images of time. More broadly, I consider how time is navigated by means of artefacts and the images they generate.

Pitt Rivers Museum Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, Michaelmas Term 2026

Fridays, 12pm-1.30pm (Weeks 1-8)

In person at the Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Theatre (entry via Robinson Close) except for Week 5, which will be online only.

Convened by Professor Elizabeth Hallam and Dr Charlotte Linton.