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Decolonising the museum

Objects in Western natural history, botanical, and ethnological museums come from all over the world – this is how these institutions provide at least a glimpse of global (natural) history and biodiversity. But how did the objects arrived at these museums? Were specimens or paleontological finds taken in colonial contexts? What were the researchers' or explorers' relationships with local communities then, and what are they now? Do we cooperate with researchers or communities from these regions today? Do we talk about the origins of our collections? The answers to these questions send out political messages to our museum audiences.

In this session, we will argue that museums should take a clear position. Speakers from different institutions will give insight into their different projects, share lessons learned and discuss their work with session participants.

Facilitator

Anna Schaefers
Curator Text and Language
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Berlin
Germany

Session speakers

Ina Heumann
Head of PAN - Perspectives on Nature
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Berlin
Germany
Dinosaurs and Provenance. Since its excavation in the then colony of German East-Africa (today’s Tanzania) between 1909 and 1913, the prominent dinosaur skeleton of Giraffatitan brancai in the Berlin Natural History Museum has been an eminently political object. Especially in recent years this fossil has become a particularly outstanding object in public debates both in Germany as well as in Tanzania. Is is one of the rare cases, if not the only case, where colonial objects of natural history have been subject to restitution debates. As such, its history leads to the question of how to deal with the colonial heritage in natural history museums, taking into account the growing tension between the entangled history of natural history museums and colonialism and the invisibility of those entanglements.
Guido Gryseels AfricaMuseum 2018
Guido Gryseels
Director General
Royal Museum for Central Africa
Tervuren
Belgium
The Royal Museum for Central Africa is the most important reference institute in the world on Central Africa. This presentation gives an overview of the steps it took in its process of renovation and decolonizing the museum. Decolonizing involves development of close collaborations with associations of African diaspora, a critical narrative of the colonial past, a new regard on the collections and on scientific research, and the development of diversity policies in HR management.

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