CfP: Conference "Politics of Natural History, or: How to Decolonize the Natural History Museum"
conference on “Politics of Natural History, or: How to Decolonize the
Natural History Museum”, which will take place the 6-7 September 2018 in
Berlin.
Please send abstracts (max. 500 words) and CV to pan@mfn-berlin.de no later than April 15, 2018.
The conference is conceived and organized by the joint project
“Dinosaurs in Berlin. Brachiosaurus brancai as an Icon of Politics,
Science, and Popular Culture”, funded by the Federal Ministry of
Education and Research.
International Conference, Technische Universität Berlin
September 6-7, 2018
Natural history museums preserve a considerable, yet often
unacknowledged part of the world’s colonial heritage. Their identity,
collections, exhibitions and, importantly, much of their research
activities are based on objects which underwent multifold translocations
from colonized territories to museums in the Global North. Natural
history museums took advantage of colonial endeavors and were deeply
entangled in the exploitation of the colonies. However, natural objects
are often displayed as “of Nature” – and framed within a narrative of
Western scientific endeavors and rationality. The complex histories of
acquisition as well as the political context of the discovery and
translocation of objects are thus rendered invisible. The conference
takes the growing tension between the entangled history of natural
history museums and colonialism on the one hand and the invisibility of
those entanglements on the other as a starting point for considerations
about decolonization.
Art, archaeological and ethnological museums as well as
physical-anthropological collections and their objects have been
confronted with their political past. Scientific and political debates
on contentious objects, on looted art and human remains are an inherent
part of academic and institutional discourses. They have been brought to
public attention, perhaps not always intentionally, by large-scale
projects like the Berlin Humboldt Forum. These efforts have also led to
the development of critical historical, juridical and political concepts
and instruments for dealing with collections. It is only very recently
that natural history museums and their zoological, mineralogical,
paleontological, botanical and geological collections entered these
debates.
In response to this awakening consciousness, the conference aims to
reflect natural history objects and museums through critical debates on
the colonial past as well as cultural and natural heritage. Our
objective is to sharpen our analytical concepts for researching,
negotiating and displaying colonial natural history objects. What might
it mean to decolonize natural history museums? How can we discuss the
politics of natural history and its collections constructively and
productively? How can we historicize natural history objects and
integrate their political and economic contexts in scientific, academic
and museological practices? What are the practical, juridical, and
scientific consequences of decolonizing natural history museums? How can
we thereby develop new perspectives on the responsibilities and
opportunities of museums of natural history as places of critical
debate?
The conference focuses on:
- Translocations – processes of collection, acquisition and
appropriation; natural history objects as sites of memory, desire and
identity.
- Research – past and current impacts of colonialism on scientific
and museum practices; efforts to decolonize data, collections and
object handling.
- Discourses – scientific and political concepts of colonial
natural history objects; cultural and natural heritage debates;
postcolonial approaches to natural history museums.
- Exhibitions – in/visibility of the colonial entanglement; conceptual frameworks for integrating colonial provenances.
We welcome papers from both the humanities and social sciences – like
history and sociology of science, cultural and museums studies – and the
natural sciences, that present either historic or actual case studies
on colonial objects/collections in order to reflect on processes of
their decolonization. Furthermore, we warmly invite theoretical and
conceptual considerations for critical reflection about decolonization
in natural history museums.
Please send your abstract (max. 500 words) and CV to pan@mfn-berlin.de no later than April 15, 2018.
For further information, please contact Yvonne Reimers (yvonne.reimers@mfn.berlin).
The conference is conceived and organized by the joint project
“Dinosaurs in Berlin. Brachiosaurus brancai as an Icon of Politics,
Science, and Popular Culture” (https://www.
Ina Heumann (PAN – Perspectives on Nature, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)
Holger Stoecker (Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Mareike Vennen (Institut für Kunstwissenschaften und Historische Urbanistik, Technische Universität Berlin).
It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.