Mittwoch, 13. November 2024, 17:00 - 18:30 iCal

Ringvorlesung Turkologie Wintersemester 2024/25

Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and Central Asia: Conservation and Destruction

October 9th, 2024 - January 22th, 2025, 5PM - 6:30PM

Institut für Orientalistik, Hörsaal
Spitalgasse 2, Hof 4.1 (Campus Universität Wien), A-1090 Wien

Hybrider Event (an einem physischen Ort und online)


From Ethnographic Specimen to Memory Device. Aspiring Heritage Justice in an Ethnographic Collection

Tobias Mörike (Weltmuseum Wien)

Abstract

The Weltmuseum Wien houses over 25,000 objects from North Africa, West- and Central Asia. In the wake of discussions initiated by Laura Ann Stoler on the engagement of the epistemologies of colonial archives, this talk delves into the strategies of engagement and interpretation of museum collections. What does it mean to approach items collected as specimen as cultural heritage? The talk addresses this question in three stages. The initial section of the presentation will juxtapose the conceptualisations and associated power dynamics inherent in the notions of "universal", state-defined and community-defined heritage and introduce the idea of heritage justice. The second section of the talk considers the conceptual redefinitions proposed by the debates on "Islamic Heritage," which represent a shift in approach from Islamic Art and Material Culture in a museum setting. Ultimately, the talk presents alternative approaches to museum collections and creative reappropriations of a museum collection.

Bio

Tobias Mörike is the curator of the North Africa, West Asia and Central Asia collections at the Weltmuseum Wien. In his capacity as a member of the curatorial team, he was responsible for the exhibitions Science Fiction(s) (2023), On the Back of Camels (2024) and the European Qur'an,(2024) as well as the interventions Space Mosque by Saks Afridi and There May Exist by Zeinab Alhashemi in Theseustempel. During his tenure as head of the Islamic Art Collection Hamburg, he co-edited the book Islamische Kunst in Hamburg, which was based on student investigations into the provenance of the collection. His doctoral dissertation, Palästina begreifen. Wissensdinge, Akteursnetzwerke, Raumerzählungen (Grasping Palestine. Knowledge, Networks, and Narratives of Space), examines botanical specimens, maps, and ethnographic collections in the context of German Palestine Exploration (1877-1929) as part of a semi-colonial engagement and explores the intersections of German Imperial and Early Zionist spatial narratives. His research interests include the ties of history of knowledge and environmental history in West Asia and North Africa.

Zur Webseite der Veranstaltung


Veranstalter

Institut für Orientalistik


Kontakt

Ayse Dilsiz Hartmuth
Institut für Orientalistik
+43-1-4277-43405
ayse.dilsiz.hartmuth@univie.ac.at