Discomforting Heritage: Practices and discourses of dealing with objects from colonial contexts in anthropological museums
| Funding | Exploration Fund der Universität Tübingen (Plattform 4) |
| PIs | Prof. Dr. Gabriele Alex (Ethnologie) Prof. Dr. Inés de Catsro (Linden-Museum Stuttgart) Prof. Dr. Thomas Thiemeyer |
| Duration | 2016 - 2018 |
Ethnological museums are facing a crisis: on the one hand, they are increasingly confronted with provenance and restitution claims; on the other hand, their representation of the 'culturally foreign' is being criticised. Criticism of museums is being driven forward in particular by so-called postcolonial associations, which are calling for a reappraisal of colonial history, an ethical treatment of colonial-era objects in collections, and a critical reflection on colonialist thinking and social structures in the present.
This is where the proposed project comes in, with two intertwined questions: 1. how should and can culture and cultural difference be represented in a public institution? 2. How can colonial history be dealt with ethically? 2. how can colonial provenance and the respective histories of contact and transformation be researched and communicated? The cooperation between the researchers at the University of Tübingen and the Linden Museum ensures that both the academic and the practical dimensions of the topic are taken into account in the project.