Curating Muslim Tradition: Shifting Custodians of Heritage in the Aga Khan Museum Projects

Discussions of South Asian religious objects in museums have often centered on relationships of power grounded in the colonial era. This has led to debates over recontextualizing religious objects, repatriation, and the politics of custodianship. A new development has been the rise of museums affiliated with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, a transnational organization tied to the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community. Over the past two centuries, Ismailis have transformed from a decentralized minority at the margins of Muslim identity to a central player in heritage building discourses in South Asia and beyond. My paper will consider three museums: the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, the Aga Khan Centre Gallery in London, and the Humayun’s Tomb Interpretation Centre in Delhi. These spaces straddle secular public museum culture, goals of cultural diplomacy, and the curation of Islam from a particular religious standpoint. My paper will consider how narratives about Muslim heritage—and South Asian heritage—are constructed and contested through these museums and cultural preservation projects.