Workshop
A Perspective on Collaborative Projects between Ethnographic Museums and Indigenous Experts
07 November 2025
10:00 - 13:30
Venue: Seminar Room 3.03, Classen-Kappelmann-Straße 24, 50931, Cologne
In this workshop, we intend to explore methodological possibilities that emerge from the dialogue between ethnographic collections held in Euro-American museums and Indigenous experts from the villages. The aim is to present some practical examples of projects that have proposed collaborative exchanges, as well as to offer reflections on the challenges of repatriation processes — especially digital repatriations. Practices grounded in local knowledge can offer new perspectives on normative aspects often regulated by the legal systems that govern museum collections and holdings. In this sense, the proposed workshop also contributes to reflections within the Research Area “(Hi)-Stories of Conviviality. The workshop seeks to discuss how, through examples from Indigenous peoples of the South American lowlands, these collaborations can contribute to broader debates around restitution currently taking place in German museum institutions. Issues such as justice and heritage-based citizenship may be revisited and challenged when viewed from a comparative perspective.
With guest participation of Dr. Julia von Sigsfeld - Restitution Coordinator at the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst.
Please register beforehand with a short e-mail to: claudio.cardinali
uni-koeln.de