The South Asia Gallery, Manchester Museum

Abstract

In February 2023, the Manchester Museum opened its new South Asia Gallery. Co-curated by a collective - 'individuals from British Asian communities in and around Manchester and fellow experts', the gallery encapsulates a unique curatorial spirit, and challenges traditional spatial juxtapositions in museum spaces. This review explores the collection and spatial experience of the gallery, examining the relationship between content and curatorial priorities. The gallery stands out in its unique telling of a people's history of large-scale global events, in the ways it traces the relationship between the everyday and empire, and between belongings and artefacts. This however brings with it certain lacunas in the 'global' connections of South Asia, and the need for future opportunities to explore under-represented voices.

keywords:

• South Asia
• Gallery
• Museums
• Manchester
• Diaspora
• India
• Pakistan
• Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka
• Myanmar

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William Gould

William Gould is Professor of Indian History at the University of Leeds. He has published widely on 20th Century political, social and cultural history of India, and South Asian Diasporas. He is currently working on a history of post-independence Indian anthropology