MiM Workshop Series

The Decolonizing Agency of Repair.
Objects, Epistemologies and the Neoliberal Value System
With his latest film The Object’s Interlacing (2020), Kader Attia is presenting a polyphonic reflection on the potential role of the object in epistemological processes and the politics of restitution. In this conversation Attia talks with Nina Möntmann about the reflections on the object layed out in this film; the concept of repair, that Attia […]

To ‘Decenter’, You Need an Ethics of Dissensus
What does the idea of “decentering” ethnographic museums entail from the perspective of an empirical philosopher, STS-researcher and postcolonial knowledge worker? Helen Verran talks with Michi Knecht about acknowledging incompatibilities beyond universalist claims and “objects before classification” as starting points. Museums, as potential sites of the multiverse, need to seriously cultivate a culture of dissent […]

Towards the Anticolonial Museum
Dan Hicks and Ciraj Rassool talk about the failure of ethnographic museums in the Global North and the need to rethink them in anticolonial terms. Together with Nanette Snoep and Nina Möntmann, they explore the notions of white infrastructures and necrographies that Dan emphasizes in his latest book, The Brutish Museums. This interview is part […]

Restitution of Knowledge:
Beyond Nefertiti
“Nefertiti can be a symbol for empowering women and should return to Egypt”, says Monica Hanna. She explains why restitution is about objects and the knowledge about objects. In her interview with Richard Bussmann, Monica Hanna talks about ethnic diversity and the Nubia Museum in Aswan, the future of archaeology in Egypt, Egypt’s positioning between […]

Centering Indigenous Humanity
Michelle Moyd and Stefanie Michels discuss contentious issues in African history and historiography, such as agency, resistance, and sovereignty and how these interact with current public debates about the colonial past. This interview is part of our new “Museums in Motion Workshop Series”. Contributions in the form of podcasts will be uploaded every Tuesday. The […]

Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage
Museum Cultures in Context
The heritage of Ancient Egypt is dispersed across the globe, with little recognition of the complex histories implied in objects. In this conversation with Richard Bussmann, Anna Brus, Juliane Hornung, Stefanie Michels, Ciraj Rassool, and Martin Zillinger, Alice Stevenson positions the study of ancient Egypt in the broader context of decolonization, knowledge production and museum […]

On Decolonizing Knowledge Production and the Museum
Telling the Complex Stories of One Museum Object
Mirjam Brusius and Ulrike Lindner talk about new ways to include marginalized voices into the discussion on heritage and museums. They address the importance of acknowledging academic as well as non-academic forms of knowledge in order to tell different stories and to make them more accessible to wider audiences. As a means to move forward […]

Setting the Agenda Right:
Restitution Matters in Ghana
Gertrude Aba Eyifa-Dzidzienyo and Stefanie Michels talk about the urgence of material restitution of objects from Western museums to Ghana as a starting point in a longer conversation about the past and its significance for the present. This interview is the first contribution to our new “Museums in Motion Workshop Series”. Contributions will be uploaded […]