En ny omfattende genstandssamling blev i 2007 hjembragt til Nationalmuseets etnografiske samling fra den sydindiske kystlandsby Tranquebar, der stadig kæmper for at rejse sig oven på de enorme ødelæggelser forårsaget af tsunamien i 2004. Sidst der blev samlet ind til Nationalmuseet fra Tranquebar var i 1845, da Galathea-ekspeditionen anløb den sydøstindiske kyst for formelt at overdrage den danske koloni til briterne. Dengang som nu var Tranquebar ligesom resten af Indien kendetegnet ved store sociale, religiøse og kulturelle forskelle, og netop disse forskelle er omdrejningspunkt for det nye indsamlingsprojekt, Lavkasternes
Tranquebar, der sætter særligt fokus på Tranquebars store lavkastebefolkning. Men hvordan formidler man viden om kaste, kulturel mangfoldighed og social udstødelse, når formidlingens form skal tage udgangspunkt i indsamling og udstilling af materielle objekter? Og hvordan sikrer man, at de svageste samfundsgruppers
kulturelle traditioner også bliver repræsenteret, når netop disse grupper ejer så forsvindende få ting?
Denne artikel diskuterer betingelserne for at dokumentere det levede livs mangfoldige udtryk og betydninger gennem indsamling af tilgængelige materielle genstande og viser, hvordan nye genstande kan kontekstualisere og reaktualisere de gamle
etnografiske samlinger.

English abstract:
In 2007, a new comprehensive ethnographic collection was brought to the National Museum of Denmark from the coastal, south Indian village of Tranquebar. The last time the National
Museum had a collection from Tranquebar incorporated in its
collections was in 1845, when the Galathea expedition visited
Tranquebar and officially handed over the, until then, Danish
colony to the British. Then as now, Tranquebar was characterized
by vast social, religious and cultural differences. These differences
have been central to the new collection project The Low Castes
of Tranquebar, which focuses on the large low caste population
in Tranquebar. But how is it possible to communicate knowledge
about caste, cultural diversity, and social marginalisation, when
the communication has to be based on the collection and exhibition
of material objects? And how can we make sure that the
cultural traditions of the weakest social groups get represented,
when precisely these groups are characterized by owning conspicuously
few material objects?
This article discusses the possibilities of documenting the vast
diversity of meanings and expressions attributed to everyday social
life through the collection of available material artefacts. The
article points out how the new artefacts can be used to contextualize
and reactualize the older ethnographic collections, thereby
contributing to a fuller knowledge about the continuations and
changes of material culture in Tranquebar.