News

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 […]

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 […]

13.04.2026 How does the Catholic Church engage with the legacy of colonialism? This question was at the center of a meeting of the working group “Dealing with the Consequences of Colonialism” of Justitia et Pax at the Global Heritage Lab of the University of Bonn. In the context of increasing global interconnectedness, the historical burdens […]

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, […]

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 […]

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.

We warmly invite you to join us on 19 March 2026 for a special program: At 4 pm, artist Neyen Pailamilla will present the performance Transplant: Healing in the Mapuche Diaspora in the Botanic Gardens Bonn. In Neyen’s work, plant knowledge becomes a lived, embodied, and spiritual process unfolding between humans, plants, bodies of water, […]

As Europe rethinks its foreign policy amidst shifting global political relations, one question remains central: Can cooperation succeed without confronting colonial history? This panel takes Germany’s first genocide of the 20th century in Namibia as a starting point to explore how colonial legacies continue to shape today’s global crises, from geopolitics and inequality to diplomacy […]

What forms of knowledge shape the ways we relate to plants and our environment – and how can we create sustainable relationships with them?

The exhibition invites visitors to engage with historically shaped relationships with plants, ecosystems, and waters, and to reflect together on more responsible ways of engaging with the environment.

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 […]