In their article “Port Cities Storytelling: Drawing on Materials of Neglect,” Jun.-Prof. Dr Julia Binter and her colleagues, Yvonne Liao, Olivia Durand, and Helena Lopes, explore how overlooked materials and marginal spaces can reshape our understanding of port cities and their histories. Focusing on storytelling as a method, the authors show how neglected objects, fragmented […]
Category: News
Research Fellow Tobias Skowronek Challenges Myths About West African Gold Trade
A recent The New York Times article highlights how modern science is reshaping long-held historical assumptions about West African gold trade. For centuries, European traders believed that merchants along Africa’s so-called “Gold Coast” diluted gold with cheaper metals. But new research led by Tobias Skowronek challenges that claim. By analyzing gold artifacts recovered from the […]
Lecture Series: “Was uns prägt: Identité(s) en mutation” (27.04.2026)
As part of the interdisciplinary lecture series “Was uns prägt: Identité(s) en mutation”, organized by the Institut français Bonn in collaboration with the University of Bonn, Julia Binter (Global Heritage Lab) will give a public lecture on 27th of April 2026 at 18:15 in Bonn. The lecture series explores how identities are shaped by family, […]
Happy News: Global Heritage Lab joins the TheMuseumsLab Network
We are delighted to announce that the Global Heritage Lab is now part of TheMuseumsLab Partner Museums Network! This partnership connects us with a vibrant international network committed to rethinking museum practices and fostering critical dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge exchange across Africa and Europe. The network now has 66 members across 8 African and 11 […]
New Publication by Associate Researcher Dr. Tobias Skowronek on Akan gold and West African trade
We are pleased to share that our fellow Dr. Tobias Skowronek has published a new article titled “Pirate Gold Provides New Insights into West African Trade Using pXRF and SEM-EDS Analysis.” The study offers fascinating new perspectives on historical trade networks in West Africa, combining innovative analytical techniques with interdisciplinary research.
Paper publication by our former Argelander Academy Fellow Dr Judy Marcela Chaves-Agudelo
Our former Argelander Academy Fellow, Dr Judy Marcela Chaves-Agudelo, published a paper in which she worked during her stay: Chaves-Agudelo, J.M. (2025). Natures, territories and the Breath of Life: The maintenance of Jagɨyɨ or Jafaikɨ among the Murui people in the present, Colombian Amazon. Visions for Sustainability, 24, 411-426. https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/12799 Abstract The Murui people’s concept ofJagɨyɨorJafaikɨsignifiesBreath […]
Co-Curating the 18th German International Ethnographic Film Festival
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter and Yohannes Mekonnen, Global Heritage Lab’s Visual Anthropology Fellow, have joined the selection committee of the 18th German International Ethnographic Film Festival (GIEFF), co-curating this year’s program. Among this year’s themes are heritage and decolonial methods, alongside films by directors from Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Pacific and Europe. These strands […]
Conference in Paderborn: Opening Spaces – Mediating Missionary Collections through Artistic Methods (12-14.01.26)
What is the epistemological potential of bringing artists and scholars together to research fashion and its legacies of Christian mission? Jun.-Prof. Julia Binter discusses this question with regard to the project “Interwoven Dependencies. Redressing Fashion and the Heritage of Mission” at the conference “Räume öffnen. Missionssammlungen vermitteln mit künstlerischen Methoden” of the Katholische Hochschule in […]
Lecture and film by Behnaz Mirzai on African Slavery in Iran (11.12.25, 4-6pm)
The implicated researcher: Shifting positionalities in collaborative research and restitution projects How did the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms reshape slavery across the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Middle East?This talk by Behnaz Mirzai, Professor of Middle Eastern History at Brock University, examines the shared origins of Qajar Iran and the Ottoman Empire—neighboring […]
The Implicated Researcher: A Talk by Julia Binter at the ifeas in Mainz (02.12.25)
The implicated researcher: Shifting positionalities in collaborative research and restitution projects On 2 December 2025, Jun-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter will give a talk titled “The implicated researcher: Shifting positionalities in collaborative research and restitution projects.”Taking the collaborative research, exhibition and restitution project ‘Confronting Colonial Pasts, Envisioning Creative Futures’ on the collections from Namibia at the […]