German ethnographic museums emerged in close entanglement with colonial warfare and the systematic transfer of war spoils into museum collections. The former and famous assistant director of the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde, Felix von Luschan, already articulated this dynamic when, in 1922, he described the Africa department the museum’s African collection as “the greatest and most beautiful monument to our colonial troops”.
While museums in Germany have adopted more self-critical approaches in recent years, we are only beginning to gauge the scale of colonial plunder and understand the mechanisms and networks that enabled this capture of cultural heritage. This international conference will bring together historians, artists, curators and artists to examine the artefactual history of colonial warfare in three former German colonies: Togo, Kamerun and German East-Africa.
Drawing on newly compiled data on military expeditions and their material aftermaths in museum collections, the participants will investigate tactics of looting and translocation, apprehend the role of colonial military regimes and intermediaries, and develop innovative interdisciplinary methods for researching and narrating colonial violence. By situating ethnographic collections within histories of conquest, resistance, and responsibility, the conference aims to advance critical debates on provenance, restitution, and the enduring presence of colonial war spoils in museums today.
This conference is organised by the research project Repertory of Colonial Plunder (financed by German Lost Art Foundation) and financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG). For any inquiry, please contact Dr. Yann LeGall.
More information: https://www.tu.berlin/