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Lecture 'Cultural Extractivism and Museums'

19 May 2027, 5.15pm
Maison Française d'Oxford

Bénédicte Savoy (Technische Universität Berlin)

This lecture takes as its starting point a map published in 1938 by The National Geographic Magazine, entitled Bible Lands: The Cradle of Western Civilisation. Using this seemingly familiar cartographic object, it examines the structural links between oil extraction, archaeological excavations and the formation of Western museum collections in the Middle East.

Albert H. Bumstead et al., Bible Lands and the Cradle of Western Civilization, détail de Tadmor (Palmyre), carré E 9, 1938, carte, détail, 64 x 90 cm, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Collection numérique, Bibliothèques d’Orient. © Gallica BnF.
Albert H. Bumstead et al., Bible Lands and the Cradle of Western Civilization, détail de Tadmor (Palmyre), carré E 9, 1938, carte, détail, 64 x 90 cm, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Collection numérique, Bibliothèques d’Orient. © Gallica BnF.

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