Tracing cultural artefacts in Burkina Faso and in international museums. Consequences of absence

• Applicant: Dr. Katrin Langewiesche
• Subject Area: African, American and Oceania Studies
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 559571476

Cultural artefacts from Burkina Faso are kept in museums across the world, while, in the country itself, their absence and scarcity are regularly noted and pointed out. The research aims to historically contextualise museum collections of Burkinabe objects in the international museum landscape while conducting field studies on the consequences of the absence of these objects in their original context. Our case study will thoroughly dwell on the Burkinabe collections of the Weltmuseum (Vienna) as well as the collecting activities of the former curator of the Africa Department, Annemarie Schweeger-Hefel. Thus, it will enable their historicization and offer tools for comparison with other collections. Photographs of objects will be used in Burkina Faso as the basis for interviews with the descendants of their former owners in order to identify the knowledge and practices associated with them. The tracing of cultural artefacts will thus be carried out in Burkina Faso and in international museums in order to interpret the consequences of their absence locally and the value of these collections in their international locations as a resource for today's communities. The results of the tracing will be shown in an exhibition in Ouagadougou, which will be designed with museum curators, academics and representatives of the communities of origin, and published in a photo booklet to be distributed in the participating villages. The analysis of the process leading up to the exhibition opening and publication will offer a broader understanding of heritage dynamics and of the current re-evaluation of traditions in a Burkinabe society shaken by security crises.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants