PhD Leshchenko Anna - University of Tübingen, Tübingen (Germany)

PhD Vosseler Annika - University of Tübingen, Tübingen (Germany)

Dr. Sebbowa Kyagaba Dorothy -  Makerere University, Kampala (Uganda)

 
Collective proposal

University museums across Europe play an increasingly visible role in debates around colonial legacies, cultural restitution and ethical curatorship. Yet many of these institutions are staffed by academics rather than trained museum professionals, often lacking the curatorial expertise, resources, and frameworks needed to undertake provenance research and decolonial work in a sustainable way. 
In this tandem talk, Dorothy Kyagaba (Uganda) and Annika Vosseler (Germany) reflect on the beginnings of a joint African-European initiative to co-develop practical guidelines for university-based curators. Rooted in the April 2025 Think Tank meeting in Tübingen and Stuttgart and supported by the CIVIS Alliance, this collaboration brings together scholars and practitioners from universities and museums in Uganda, Germany, and France. 

The project’s starting point is the ethnological collection of the University of Tübingen - a site of shared inquiry into colonial entanglements, institutional blind spots, and the potential of co-curated knowledge. 

We ask: 
- What kinds of responsibility are needed between African and European institutions to transform heritage practices? 
- How can universities become laboratories for just and inclusive provenance research that transcends academic hierarchies? 
This presentation offers an early-stage reflection on emerging African-European relations within the project, addressing both the frictions and the potential of joint problem-solving. 
It outlines a draft model for sustainable, scalable, and digitally inclusive provenance work in university museums - with the goal of supporting other institutions facing similar challenges across the CIVIS network and beyond.


Individual paper

Dr. and Pr Kimmich Dorothee -  Tübingen University, Tübingen (Germany)

Similarity and Proximity in Cultural Theory and Research on Conviviality