Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology

Anna Leshchenko, M.A.

Research assistant and PhD Candidate

Contact
Ludwig-Uhland-Institute for Historical and Cultural Anthropology | University of Tübingen | Burgsteige 11, 72070 Tübingen | Office in the Fünfeckturm
+49 (0)7071 29-74048
anna.leshchenko@uni-tuebingen.de

Consultation hours:
During the Semester: Thursday 14.30 - 16 Uhr
Meetings via telephone/ online possible after e-mail arrangement

Main Areas in Research and Teaching
  • Museological trends
  • Museum ethics
  • Museum and activism
  • Decolonization of museum theory 
Academic Profile

I am a research associate and PhD student at the Ludwig Uhland Institute. Since 2022, I have been doing PhD research on the history of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), focusing on controversies surrounding the definition of “museum.” Since 2019, I have served as vice-chair of the ICOM International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) and have been an associate editor of Curator: The Museum Journal since 2021. I am one of the editors of the 2019 book Defining the Museum of the 21st Century: Evolving Multiculturalism in Museums in the United States and co-edited the 2023 issue of the ICOFOM Study Series titled Challenging the Silences: Confronting Taboos in Museums and Museology. While working at the University of Tübingen, I am also dedicating my efforts to fostering collaboration between universities and museums within the framework of CIVIS.

Vita

2022 - now: research assistant and PhD student at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies in Tübingen
2020-2021: self-employed education manager and consultant, project "Museum English Hub"
2009 - 2020:teaching Museology at the Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU), Moscow
2001 - 2006: studying Museology at the RGGU, Moscow

Publications (selected)

Edited works:
With Weiser, M.E., and Marion Bertin, M. (2022). Taboos in Museology: Difficult issues for museum theory. Materials for a discussion, for ICOFOM annual symposium in Prague. Paris.

With Chung, Y.S.S, and Brulon Soares, B. (2019). Defining the Museum of the Twenty-First Century - Evolving Multiculturalism in Museums in the United States. Paris.

 

Articles:
Leshchenko A. (2020). Cyfrowe wymiary muzeum: definicja przedmiotu badań cybermuzeologii. In: Małgorzata Baka (Ed.), Muzeologia cyfrowa: muzeum i narzędzia cyfrowe humanistyki (pp. 69-80). Toruń.

Leshchenko, A., & Brulon Soares, B. (2018). Museology in Colonial Contexts: A Сall for Decolonisation of Museum Theory, ICOFOM Study Series, 46, 61-79. DOI: 10.4000/iss.895

Leshchenko, A. (2017). Metamuseologia e o Discurso Museológico. In: Stránský: uma ponte Brno – Brasil; Stránský: a bridge Brno – Brazil (pp. 115-129, in English: 130-143). Paris.

Leshchenko, A. (2017). Musée-activiste : agrandissement du rôle des espaces discursifs des musées. In Définir le musée du XXIe siècle : Matériaux pour une discussion (pp. 238-241). Paris.

Leshchenko A. A visitor-centered approach: Enhancing Museology with Perceptual Theory // Visiting the Visitor: An Enquiry Into the Visitor Business in Museums / Ed. by A. Davis, K. Smeds. – Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag, 2016. – P. 153-163. – 10-ISBN: 383763289X, 13- ISBN: 978-3837632897.

How Do Museum Studies Programs Address the Nature of Museums Today? / Bruce Altshuler, Anna Leshchenko, Rick Riccio, Richard Sandell, Marjorie Schwarzer, Nora Pat Small, Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, and Carol B. Stapp // Exhibitionist. - 2011. - Spring. Vol. 30. No 1. - Р. 82-86.

Presentations

07.2019 “Democracy, Critical Thinking and Cybermuseology” for “IV Seminário brasileiro de museologia: Democracia, metamuseologia e museus étnicos”, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil.
09.2019 “Cybermuseology as an Ethically Charged Discourse in Museology” for ICOFOM’s “The Future of Tradition in Museology” symposium, General Conference of International Council of Museums, Tokyo, Japan.
09.2017 “Museology in Colonial Contexts: A call for Decolonisation of Museum Theory” (original title in Spanish: “Museología en contextos coloniales: Llamado para la descolonización de la teoría museal”), Havana, ICOFOM 40th annual symposium “The Politics and Poetics of Museology”
06.2017 “Museum as an activist: expansion of discursive space of museums” (original title in French: « Musée-activiste : agrandissement du rôle des espaces discursifs des musées »), Paris, International conference “Defining the museum of the 21st century / Définir le musée du XXIe siècle”
07.2016 “Conscious museum”, Milan, ICOFOM symposium on “Predatory Museum” at International Council of Museums General Conference.
10.2015 “Metamuseology and museological discourse” (original title in Spanish: “Metamuseología y el discurso museológico”), Rio de Janeiro, UNIRIO III Debates Cycle of the School of Museology on “Stránský: a bridge Brno-Brazil”

Science Communication

Anna Leshchenko. ICOFOM Aktivitäten in 2020. in: ICOM Deutschland, Heft 43 (See article)
Anna Leshchenko. What does the future of museums look like? in: Aksenov Family Foundation. 28.12.2016. (See article)
Anna Leshchenko, Thomas Thiemeyer. Planetares Wohlbefinden als Kompromissformel. Artikel zur neuen ICOM-Museumsdefinition, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 28.09.2022. Feuilleton, Seite 9 (see article)