A new exhibition at the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa is marking the tenth anniversary of the death of Jeremy Boissevain, an anthropologist and professor best known for his work on Maltese society and Mediterranean culture.
Titled Legacy of an Anthropologist: the Jeremy Fergus Boissevain Archive, the display showcases a selection of the scholar’s Malta-related fieldwork and research.
The exhibition follows the recent donation of Boissevain’s Malta archive to the National Museum of Ethnography by his family. Transferred from the Netherlands in 2024, the archive includes materials collected over several decades, beginning in the 1950s. It has now been entrusted to Heritage Malta for preservation and public access.
Boissevain first visited Malta in the 1950s and returned in the early 1960s while completing his doctoral studies at the London School of Economics. He became deeply involved in the study of village life, festa traditions and community networks.
His 1965 publication Saints and Fireworks: Religion and Politics in Rural Malta remains a key text in the anthropological study of the islands.
He conducted long-term fieldwork in localities such as Kirkop and Naxxar, where he and his family lived for extended periods. Over the years, he maintained strong ties with Malta, lecturing at the University of Malta and remaining engaged in local debates, particularly concerning overdevelopment and the effects of mass tourism.
The exhibition presents a representative sample of his research output. It includes original field notes, interview transcripts, photographs, newspaper cuttings and annotated drafts of his academic papers. These materials cover several aspects of Maltese life from the 1960s onward and offer insight into the country’s social changes through the eyes of a long-time external observer.
Heritage Malta CEO Noel Zammit described the donation as a significant addition to the National Museum of Ethnography.
“Such a show of trust energises us to continue our mission,” he said. “This gesture not only honours Boissevain’s dedication to Malta but grounds his scholarship within the very culture he so carefully documented.”
Jeremy Boissevain in a documentary showing at the Inquisitor’s Palace.Kenneth Cassar, Senior Curator of Ethnography at Heritage Malta, also highlighted the importance of the donation.
“The love and commitment that Boissevain showed towards Malta and its people will live on, not just through his published works but also through this significant archive,” he said.
Boissevain’s daughter, Lietje Bonello Boissevain, noted that the donation was intended to make her father’s research widely accessible. “We trust that the invaluable knowledge and unique insights my late father accumulated about the Maltese islands will live on,” she said.
“We hope this archive kindles in researchers and the wider public the same interest in people and their settings that fuelled his work.”
The exhibition is open to the public until September and is included in admission to the Inquisitor’s Palace. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm.
Further details are available at heritagemalta.mt/whatson.