Manuel Valentin is a senior lecturer in the MNHN's Man & Environment department. An anthropologist of material objects and historian of African arts, he was initially responsible for the sub-Saharan African collections at the Musée de l'Homme, where he curated a number of exhibitions, before joining UMR 208 ‘Local Heritage’ (IRD/MNHN) in 2007. Officially appointed scientific manager of the cultural anthropology collections, which he is committed to expanding and enhancing, he also teaches museology and the history of African arts at a number of institutions, including the École du Louvre, the University of Paris 7, the Catholic University of Paris, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. His research focuses on material objects as carriers of cultural practices and expressions of identity. He is revisiting the role of colour in African socio-cultural environments, while conducting a wide-ranging study of the cultural history of the water bottle around the world, from its emergence as a banal, utilitarian object to its development through marketing strategies. More recently he has begun research into the forgotten art of feathers in Africa.