Living Artifacts in Colonial Collections: James Clifford

Historian and cultural theorist James Clifford is an Emeritus Professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Clifford is the author of several widely cited and translated books, including The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and Art (1988) and Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late 20th Century (1997), among others. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recent Guggenheim recipient, and an External Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center. Clifford’s current research concerns the decolonization of museum collections of non-Western art and culture. His most recent book, Returns: Becoming Indigenous in the Twenty-First Century (2013) explores these unfinished changes.

Thyrza Nichols Goodeve is a writer, editor, and educator who lives in Brooklyn Heights. She was Senior Art Editor at the Rail from 2017 to 2019 and is currently an Editor-at-Large.

Artist and writer Hearne Pardee is based in New York and California. Pardee is a Professor Emeritus at University of California, Davis. His paintings and collages explore everyday landscapes, including those on the Pacific Island of New Caledonia. His 2023 show in New York at Bowery Gallery featured a dance performance created by choreographer David Grenke. His recent contributions to the Brooklyn Rail include an interview with Gabriel Orozco and a review of Mary Lucier’s video installation, Leaving Earth.