ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines displacement anthropology and discusses its relationship to theories of ritual. The displacement perspective thus enables a greater visibility not only of what the displaced undergo and bring about, but also of the significance in displacement including for displaced things of suffering, longing and habit. Refugee camp/museum comparisons notwithstanding, this volume's focus on displaced things might appear, on one level, somewhat ironic given that displaced persons seem often to be treated by others 'as objects': the implication being that actions are done to, not by, them. There are nonetheless important and explicit, critical and ethical purposes to the displacement anthropology approach. Displacement anthropology, then, approaches things as if they were forced migrants. It shows remembering and forgetting as potentialities not only of people and institutions, but of artefacts, too. It explores the place of temporality, loss and hope in museum collections and practices.
