Although mainly designed as “scientific” materials for Western researchers, these collections often reflect different values from their countries of origin. In this WP, we explore the future potential of colonial scientific collections, focusing on plaster casts of human bodies—a representative category. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, physical anthropologists worldwide cast humans to study cultural differences through a racial lens. These collections were formed amid colonial, antidemocratic, and racist ideologies alongside scientific methods.

This WP examines collections from Bologna, Utrecht, and Charles universities, focusing on provenance and the involvement of geographic regions and communities. It explores the collaboration between anthropologists and colonial governments, as well as the current local valuations. In partnership with resident artists, the team will create a travelling exhibition on the contentious history of plaster casts, offering new insights and curatorial practices.

Contributors:

University of Bologna

• Maria Giovanna Belcastro (PI)
• Patrizia Battilani (PI)

Utrecht University and University Museum Utrecht

• Gertjan Plets
• Suzanne van der Wateren

University of Pretoria

• Siona O’Connell

Charles University

• Markéta Křížová

Designer and creative partners:

• Studio Louter

Botanical Gardens are prominent sites of scientific research, education and public engagement. It was in the colonial era that botanical gardens became a truly global phenomenon, and hence their history is intimately connected to the history of European expansionism.

This work package features an interdisciplinary team from Suriname, Italy, and the Netherlands investigating the roles of universities and botanical gardens in the domestication and spread of non-European plants in Europe. We analyze whether scientific and practical plant knowledge, along with the trade and exchange of living plants, seeds, and herbaria, are linked to colonialism. Based on this historical research, we seek to determine whether, how, and to what degree botanical gardens today still carry colonial legacies.

The goal of our work package is to develop new terminology to describe the coloniality of botanical gardens and to create an innovative educational program that teaches children and young adults about the complex and intertwined history of botanical gardens from a decolonized perspective. In this program, pupils learn how environmental issues and socio-cultural histories of colonialism are interconnected.

Our team consists of members from Utrecht University, the University of Bologna, the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. We work as historians, heritage experts, and biologists, and as curators, teachers, and researchers at the National Herbarium of Suriname, the Botanical Garden and Herbarium at Bologna, and the Utrecht University Botanic Gardens, supported by Amsterdam-based design studio Studio Louter, and artists-in-residence from different continents.

Contributors:

Utrecht University

• Mette Bruinsma (PI)
• Richard Calis (PI)
• Gijs Steur
• Rosa de Jong

University of Suriname

• Eliza Zschuschen
• Dorothy Traag

University of Bologna

• Monica Azzolini
• Juri Nascimbene

Designer and creative partner

• Studio Louter

The colonial influence in academia is also evident in the university’s campus and architecture. Student activism has highlighted issues related to the naming of buildings and seminar halls, as well as the widespread presence of contested statues or colonial representations in public space. This WP reviews various initiatives addressing the coloniality of the campus and proposes strategies and methods to address and overcome these issues.

Led by Aarhus University and the University of Pretoria with support from external partners from The Greenlandic House (Aarhus) and the University of Liverpool, this intervention examines the university campus as a space to explore deeply embedded legacies of colonialism, racial slavery, and apartheid. ‘The campus’ is broadly defined to include architecture, memorial landscapes, gardening, public artworks, institutional cultures, museums, archives, collections, and the university as a whole.

Led by Aarhus University and the University of Pretoria with support from external partners from The Greenlandic House (Aarhus) and the University of Liverpool, this intervention examines the university campus as a space to explore deeply embedded legacies of colonialism, racial slavery, and apartheid. ‘The campus’ is broadly defined to include architecture, memorial landscapes, gardening, public artworks, institutional cultures, museums, archives, collections, and the university as a whole.

This intervention examines the concept of discussing the coloniality of the university as an institution and its manifestations. It also considers what it means to decolonize the university. To achieve this, three ‘decolonial residencies’ will be held at the University of Pretoria, Aarhus University, and the University of Liverpool, with a focus on colonial entanglements. These will explore topics like Afrikaner nationalism, apartheid removals, Denmark’s colonial history, ‘polar colonialisms,’ Greenland’s status, ‘tropical colonialisms,’ British imperialism, and more. The goal is to produce a ‘handbook’—part DIY manual, part artist’s workbook—titled ‘How to Decolonize Your University’.

Contributors:

Aarhus University

• Nick Shepherd (PI)

University of Pretoria

• Siona O’Connell

University of Liverpool

• Ilze Wolff

The intangible dimensions of knowledge production, identity, and representations are essential for understanding and addressing colonial entanglements. These issues differ from the decolonial acts of restitution and repatriation often linked to museum institutions. Instead, they concern how heritage is conceived and presented through knowledge representations and museological practices.

Learning from postcolonial universities and heritage institutions in Asia (with a focus on Vietnam), our working package explores the interface between European and Asian approaches towards decoloniality and heritage. Recent scholarly work underlines the complexity of decolonial practice in sedimented post-colonial legacies. In collaboration with Vietnamese colleagues, we reexamine the (de)colonial entanglements of heritage visions, values, and voice. We aim to explore new pathways and re-present intangible heritage visions, values and voice through collaborative engagement with heritage communities, culminating in a travelling multi-media exhibition that will be presented in both Vietnam and Switzerland.

The working approach includes collaborative research and the participatory preparation of an exhibition. The joint team comprises Peter Bille Larsen from the University of Geneva (PI) and a seconded Senior Researcher and Postdoctoral Researcher affiliated with the Institute for Cultural Studies (ICS) in Vietnam. A part-time Post Doc will also work with the University of Geneva.

Contributors:

University of Geneva

• Peter Bille Larsen

Vietnamese Academy for Social Sciences