Practices of Collecting. Postcolonial Views on the Scientific Collections of the University of Tübingen

• Applicant: Dr. Carsten Gräbel, since 10/2023
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442990411

The project is interested in the practices of collecting at the University of Tübingen and how they shaped the evolution of different scientific disciplines. The analysis focuses on the extensive scientific collections of the university. These collections served on the one hand as a basis for research and a window on the world. On the other hand, they were media popularizing knowledge and serving as showcases for the university in the world. They were not only instruments of knowledge production and circulation, but also important references for political and social self-definition, self-ascertainment and self-reflection.The project analyzes the colonial and postcolonial implications of these collections within globalizing knowledge orders. Empirical basis for this study are the ethnological and paleontological collections of the University of Tübingen. Given their importance for former and ongoing research in their respective disciplines as well as their continuous and well documented acquisition history, these collections are particularly revealing case studies.The project’s overarching questions are as follows: What precisely did ‘collecting’ mean with regard to contexts that were ‘colonial’ from our today’s perspective? Which knowledge orders and forms of knowledge production were involved – and how did they change over time? When, to which extent and in which way did the collecting agents reflect on the political, social and ethical implications of their actions? Three perspectives structure the project:(1) Collecting and systemizing: What did collecting concretely mean for individual actors? How were the collections created? Where did the objects come from? According to which principles were they arranged, treated and prepared for professional use or exhibition purposes? Which role did the collections have in research practice and teaching? Did their scientific functions change over time?(2) Production and circulation of knowledge: Which forms of knowledge were generated on the basis of the collections at different times? In how far were the collectors involved in intramural, regional, national and transnational networks? To which extent did the collections serve as intermediaries and door openers within globalizing scientific communities?(3) Self-ascertainment and self-reflection: Which ethical standards and ideological models did the collectors follow? Which were the ideological convictions, social conceptions and political aims underpinning their activities? To which extent were they aware of the colonial contexts that framed their actions? Was their professional interest accompanied by a cultural appropriation of collections and objects?Within regard to the other proposals related to it, this project plays an indispensable role by systematically reconstructing the provenances, acquisition contexts and compositions of selected collections and making them comprehensible in the form of object and collector's biographies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Johannes Großmann, until 9/2023