Critical museum studies have long been engaged in deconstructing the politics of museum representation and display. However, in the last decade, attention has shifted toward the impacts of collecting, translocating objects, and museum (de)accessioning practices [Deakzession und Erwerbung]. This shift has been presented as a theoretical exercise and a societal call to action. The rekindling of the restitution debate after 2018, the coming of age of decolonial and anti-racist critiques of Western institutions, and the imminent threat of fossil-fuel-induced environmental collapse all demand our immediate attention and further research about the normative frameworks and institutional legacies of collecting during the Late Modern period. This Übung proposes an introductory survey and close reading of recent critical interventions in English, focusing on three themes that have afforded innovative takes on these practices: Collecting and Indigenous sovereignties, collecting and coloniality, and collecting and environmental collapse.
- Lehrende/r: João de Castro Maia Veiga Figueiredo