Lena Muders

Andean human remains in museums – On sensitive bodies and embodied dependencies

The ethnographic project aims to explore the materiality, perception, signification and meanings of Andean human remains in museum contexts, and their relationship with living actors in museums as postcolonial contact zones. How are dependency relations embodied and what role can human remains play in the decolonization of museums today? Colonial and postcolonial entanglements have had great impact on knowledge production, exhibition, interpretation and handling of cultural objects in museums in former colonizing states and in colonized states. Human bodies have been objectified to serve scientific interests and are being rehumanized today in attempts of reconciliation and decolonization of museum practice. The postcolonial museum becomes a space for conflict, dialogue, negotiation and the development of new transdisciplinary and transcultural practices. The multi-sited ethnographic study is based on qualitative interview and sensory ethnographic data, as well as written sources, such as published handling guidelines, press articles and archival material. The theoretical approach includes theories from material culture studies and postcolonial studies, and theories of the body and embodiment.

since 2020
Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, University of Bonn, Germany

2016–2019
M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Marburg, Germany

2012–2016
B.A. in Anthropology and Archaeology of the Americas, University of Bonn, Germany

2014–2015
Anthropology and Archaeology, University of San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia

since 2020
Research Associate in Research Group Marking Power: Embodied Dependencies, Haptic Regimes and Body Modification

2018–2019
Tutoring at the Institute for European Ethnology, University of Marburg, Germany

2017–2020
Student assistant, Ethnographic Collection, University of Marburg, Germany

2015–2016
Student assistant, BASA Museum (Bonn Collection of the Americas), University of Bonn, Germany

since 2022
Member of UAG Expert*innen Netzwerk zum Umgang mit menschlichen Überresten (AG Koloniale Provenienzen, Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V.)

2022
Organization of the international conference "Transforming Spirit Bodies: Changing Materialities and Embodied Dependencies," September 29–30, 2022, BCDSS, University of Bonn, Germany

2019
Organization of a panel at the international conference "Visions of Future in the Americas," June 12–14, 2019, University of Bonn, Germany

2019
Curatorial Committee, Exhibition "Kollision Azteken Spanier 1519," Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany

2015
Curatorial Committee, Exhibition "Azteken Einst und Heute," Bonner Altamerika-Sammlung, Germany