ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways that objects have mediated relations between people of different cultural backgrounds in Australian society through their entanglement in museum collecting and display practices from the nineteenth century to the present day. Using object biography (Kopytoff, 1986) and the concept of ‘identity relations’ (Yuval-Davis, 2010), two case studies of a banner created during anti-Chinese riots on the goldfields of Lambing Flat in 1861 and two weaving looms created by Latvian refugees in post–World War II Displaced Persons camps in Germany are analysed. Through these case studies, the author also explores the ways in which these objects are implicated in people’s identities, feelings and behaviours, including the feelings and politics of belonging, especially the processes of inclusion and exclusion.
