- Convenor:
-
Snezhana Atanova
(Nazarbayev University Constructor University)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Snezhana Atanova
(Nazarbayev University Constructor University)
- Discussant:
-
Snezhana Atanova
(Nazarbayev University Constructor University)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Mode:
- Online part of the conference
- Theme:
- Anthropology & Archaeology
- Sessions:
- Friday 14 November, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Short Abstract
The roundtable aims to examine Central Asian collections in European museums through a critical lens to determine if they serve as 'lieux de mémoire,' sites of cultural and social difference or instruments of coloniality.
Abstract
From the second half of the 19th century, explorers and travelers began to bring objects from the material culture of Central Asia to Europe. At the same time museums were being established, and these objects gradually acquired the status of museum exhibits. The process of museification of Central Asian arts and crafts commenced with international industrial exhibitions in Vienna (1873) and Paris (1878), where Austrian and French exhibition organizers were able to combine industrial spaces with showcases of Islamic art. These events culminated in the first carpet exhibition in Vienna (1891), which also featured exhibits from Central Asia. Travelogues, the first monographs on the art and crafts of the region, and various exhibitions further highlighted these objects, elevating them from mere trade fair items to museum pieces and works of art deserving of scholarly attention. However, over an extended period, carpets, garments, weapons, and curiosities have been exoticized to effectively represent the culture of the Other to the European audience (Benoît de l’Estoile 2007).
While tracing Central Asian holdings in European museums, the roundtable aims to examine museums and their collections through a critical lens to determine whether they serve as lieux de mémoire (Pierre Nora, 1984), sites of cultural and social difference (Pierre Bourdieu and Alain Darbel, 1991), or instruments of coloniality (Walter Mignolo, 2011). More specifically, the panel convenors—curators and researchers—will address the following questions: How were the collections of Central Asian material culture in European museums formed? Who were the collectors behind these Central Asian holdings? How have the Central Asian holdings been interpreted and studied over time? What do these collections represent today, and what challenges do contemporary researchers face when studying Central Asian masterpieces? These and other questions concerning the representation of Central Asia's material culture will be addressed at the round table discussion.
Participants and their papers:
Melanie Krebs "Central Asia at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin," Rahel Wille
"Witnesses to a Complex History: Objects from Central Asia and the Henri Moser Oriental Collection," Hanin Hannouch "Critical Introduction to Photographs of Turkmenistan circa 1900 in the Collection of Weltmuseum," and Olaf Günther “Decolonizing Central Asia? Richard Karutz and new perspectives on historical objects in Luebeck’s Collection of the World”
Accepted contributions
Session 1 Friday 14 November, 2025, -Abstract
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Historical museum of Bern received a generous donation: a significant collection of Oriental art. Comprising approximately four thousand objects, this collection had a substantial impact on the museum's collection and exhibition history over the following century.
The collection was assembled by Henri Moser, a Swiss individual who traveled through Central Asia four times during the latter half of the 19th century. High-quality gifts, such as weapons and horse harnesses from the Emir of Bukhara, formed the foundation of his collecting endeavors.
The presentation provides insights into the collection and highlights the historical contexts in which it was created. It explores the individual thirst for adventure and the desire for prestige within the framework of European 'Orientalism,' as well as the expeditions and military occupations of the Central Asian region. Additionally, it addresses current issues and the contemporary significance of these collection objects.
Abstract
About half of the objects in the North Africa, West, and Central Asia department at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin originate from Central Asia. In the late 19th century collectors focused on the Emirate of Bukhara and East Turkestan ((present-day Xinjiang). Subsequent collections primarily came from Afghanistan, emphasizing the Turkmen, Uzbeks, and Baloch to address gaps in the existing collection. Many collectors based on their perceptions of 'Oriental' aesthetics and authenticity, concentrating on objects that represented the ‚real‘ Orient untouched by Western influences. This presentation explores how Orientalist ideas have shaped Central Asian collections and examines the role these collections continue to play in the development of identities in Central Asia today. A particular emphasis is placed on a collaborative project involving the collection and exhibition of artifacts, conducted in partnership with members of the Uyghur diaspora.
Abstract
The museification of Central Asian arts and crafts, which commenced with the international industrial exhibition in Vienna in 1873, is intricately linked to the collection and archiving of photographs from Central Asia. My research presents the history of the photographic collection at the Weltmuseum Wien (Vienna, Austria), with a particular focus on images related to the Turkmen people and their surroundings around the year 1900. This study explores the various historical protagonists who have contributed to the photography collection’s ecosystem and epistemology. A key figure is ethnologist Franz Heger (1884-1919), the first director of the Weltmuseum Wien, formerly known as the Anthropologisch-Ethnographischen Abteilung des „k. k. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums.” Heger’s travel to the Caucasus, Russian Turkestan and Transcaspian region between 1881 and 1893 significantly enriched the museum’s Central Asian photography collection which serves as a foundation for this inquiry. Nevertheless, my examination of the photography collection aims to recenter the agency of practitioners from the Global South and/or local actors. Therefore, I will also analyze the work of photographer Alexander Karlovic Engel (1848 – 1918), who was active in Central Asia and the Northern Caucasus around 1900, among others.
Abstract
Karutz's first journey in 1903 began with a sea voyage from Baku to Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea, followed by a rail journey through Krasnovodsk, Merv, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Kokand. During this expedition, he primarily collected marketable objects items such as bags, shoes, household goods, referred to as “tourism objects.”) These “everyday objects” signify the onset of a process of musealization, wherein elements of everyday culture were transferred to museums as exotic representations of a distant culture. His second trip in 1908 took him to the Turkmen and Kazakhs on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, where he collected and photographed both new and used objects from yurts, particularly carpets and horse-related items while also documenting Kazakh wedding ceremonies in detail. The donation of his collections to the Lübeck Museum of Ethnology, established in 1893, elevated these objects to exhibition status. During this transformation of the museum, the exhibits were contextualized within colonial-influenced discourses on ethnography. They serve as “lieux de mémoire,” or sites of cultural difference, but while simultaneously functioning as instruments of foreign attribution and exoticization . The current exhibition project employs contemporary curatorial approaches to critically examine on the provenance, contexts, and functions of these objects. A central principle of this initiative is the participatory involvement of community representatives from the countries of origin. In addition to archival and object analyses, the project will initiate oral history contributions , professional exchanges with local experts, and co-curatorial projects will be initiated in order to sustainably broaden the narrative spectrum and decentralize colonial interpretive authority.
Abstract
(online conference)
Central Asia was not a focus of the ‘Württemberg Association for Commercial Geography’ founded in Stuttgart in 1882 with its chairman Count von Linden, from which the later Linden-Museum emerged.
Only a few objects from Central Asia were in stock when collection and documentation efforts were intensified from the 1960s onwards. The majority of the Central Asian collections were acquired in or via Afghanistan in the 1960s and 1970s. With the exception of the collection of the Stuttgart Badakhshan expedition, there are considerable problems in assigning the materials to specific provenances. This is mainly due to the fact that the collections were mainly acquired via the art market.
In retrospect, it is possible to identify the emergence of different perspectives on these collections and on exhibitions organised based on them. In this context, the internationally renowned exhibition ‘Heirs of the Silk Road - Uzbekistan’ (1995) has to be mentioned. These perspectives emerged at different times, and in order to evaluate and consider them, individual interests, political developments and the changing field of museum work must be taken into account.