Adu from Nias: how sacred figures became subsumed into idols by missionaries and anthropologists

Abstract

This article focuses, for the first time, on the wooden sculptures of Nias (Adu) included in Elio Modigliani's collection conserved at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology in Florence. Catalogued as «idols», Adu represent an opportunity to investigate how these objects were interpreted in the anthropological framework of Modigliani's time. They are an important case study for investigating two important issues. First, what impact did the imposition of colonial power have on indigenous societies and on cultural production within them. Secondly, what impact did the power relationships imposed by colonialism have on the interpretation of objects. Another goal of this report is to make Modigliani's work more fully accessible to both the scientific community and the people of Nias