Negus Rudison-Imhotep, Ph.D.’s Post

"Museums have continually developed since their creation. Today's museum landscape offers various interest groups a variety of points of contact. For those concerned with history and education, museum exhibitions serve an important educational role. Feminist interest in museums lies in their potential to present the past and present in an inclusive manner and to convey a sense of non-territorial cultures or to strengthen transnational identities between states and their people. The former is of particular interest to liberal feminists who criticize the underrepresentation of women and call for reform of socio-political institutions that embody male privilege." Read more about how museums are an important element of (feminist) foreign policy agendas, in this blog written by Neha Khetrapal, Associate Professor at Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS). Titled 'Can museums be an integrative part of (feminist) foreign policy?', the work is supported by the JGU Research Grant for the Project, “New Ammunitions for the Future: Material Culture and Transitional Justice.

Event recommendation: Multispecies Design on 22 March 2024 curated by Claudia Banz and Lynn Harles The interdisciplinarity of the natural sciences, anthropology, cultural studies and the creative disciplines of #design and #architecture has been undergoing a multispecies turn for some years now. This interdisciplinary approach challenges traditional anthropocentric perspectives and instead emphasizes the interdependence and interconnectedness of all life forms. The #symposium Multispecies Design aims at mapping positions and combines research and best-practice examples from different scientific and design perspectives.

OBSERVE THIS MOMENT – HOW IT CONVULSES The exhibition at the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok with the participation of artists from Poland, Ukraine, Estonia and the Czech Republic touches upon the issues of war, power engineering, deimperialization, but also the search for alternative patterns of customs and the unprocessed legacy of the USSR in culture, history and everyday life. The artworks presented in the exhibition were created in a context shaped by discourses of politics and economy, as well as identity debates and issues not recognised as legacies, although conveying certain choices and strategies. In the field of art, the proposed issues gain a different form of expression, different arguments and perhaps a different reflection. https://lnkd.in/dt8sSsqN

The F. (rhymes with sink) family, particularly August von F. Sr., benefited from the Naz_i regime by acquiring Jewish-owned businesses during the "Arisierung" process, including the Löwenbräu brewery at significantly reduced prices. This historical connection has been explored in recent works like David de Jong’s book "Naz_i Billionaires", digging dirt up on prominent German families who built their fortunes through such acquisitions. #OSINT on such connections and ties to Nazi-era Arisierung involves using online archives, following is a good starting point: Arolsen Archives: Extensive documentation on Nazi victims & Arisierung. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/d-QfSRF7 Deutsches Bundesarchiv: Historical docs on Nazi era & economic history. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dSbtF-9V Holocaust Memorial Museum: Docs on companies & families involved in the regime. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dmwuN5wm Münchener Staatsarchiv: Docs on Bavarian companies like Finck. 🔗https://lnkd.in/ddXPh3ME Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ): Historical docs on Nazi collaborators. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/diXyY-rK

For all our German speakers (or use translate) MEMORISE_EU team member Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann from the The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was invited to write for the German online journal Zeitgeschichte|Online (Contemporary History Online). The Piece is titled: Das Projekt MEMORISE entwickelt digitale Zugänge zu Spuren der NS-Verfolgung/The MEMORISE project develops digital access to traces of Nazi persecution #Digitaltools #DigitalMemory #CulturalHeritage #holocausteducation https://lnkd.in/egJuk2Rs

Very often there is an interplay between politics and reconstruction of historic buildings, as sections of the past are erased and some history recovered. From the beginning the idea to reconstruct the Royal City Palace in Berlin was troubled by its historic associations, its lack of a clear vision of giving the vast building a relevant purpose in today's society, not to mention the erasure of GDR heritage. A group of artists, historians, and others, is now launching an initiative to reclaim this public building in the heart of Berlin' public space for the entire community.[see link below]. Personally I do not reject reconstructions of historic buildings, but sadly the Berlin City Palace is an example of quickly pulling up some Potemkin-style construction in the urban landscape, and hardly giving any thought about embedding this vast building with so much heritage layers in the community. In that respect, this initiative can be a tool to overcome these problems and transform this troubled palace into a place for Berlin's community. Exiting to see how this will develop! #palacecoup #reconstruction #transformation #berlin #palace #reclaim #community #heritage #reclaimheritage https://lnkd.in/d7_HgszZ

Please read. The comment shows how toxic cancel culture is. N.b.: Moral righteousness has no philosophical or humanist warrant - au contraire - and my impression is that most of the cancel vultures just polish their individual and collective nacissism. And for all those who are easy in mixing up ideas, practice, categories and opinions: being against Israel's actual (and former) military and political activities in Palestine does not equate with anti-semitism, and being compassionate not only with Israeli victims and hostages but also with Palestinian victims and refugees does not equate with being pro-Hamas. (It seems, by the way, to be obvious that those who think and argue along such crude lines have demagogic interests stemming from political evaluations that rest in no way on soberly arguments). Empfehlenswerter F.A.Z. Beitrag: Lasst das Canceln sein! https://lnkd.in/dp-PJ8vg

Is history repeating itself? This great piece by ARTE, with a great contribution by Nadine Knab, explores the intimate connection between history, narratives, and conflict. Wars, pandemics, or economic catastrophes are often historical moments in which we look into the past and believe that history is repeating itself here. But the stories we tell ourselves also contribute to the fact that some events are similar. Can we still learn from history? When war broke out in Ukraine - tanks rolled in, trenches were dug, cities were bombed and destroyed - many were reminded of times long past. Given these images, many rightly asked themselves how it could be that humanity keeps making the same mistakes, for example, by repeatedly waging wars in the same places. So, are there such things as constants in world events? Is history repeating itself? "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme," says Tim Marshall, a former foreign correspondent for the BBC. But he also points out how much geography has influenced human history and sometimes favored similar constellations. Humans are also part of world history and can not only control it rationally - we are a constant, for example, with our penchant for stereotypes and simple enemy images. And ultimately, stories have a significant influence on how people act. The German scholar Samira El Ouassil says that humans are narrative creatures, which means that people like to tell everything they perceive as a story. And because they are often similar and we are generally always looking for patterns, we think: I've heard that before! How we talk about history leads us to believe we recognize repetitions. When viewed soberly, the differences usually outweigh the differences. But what does this do to our need to learn from history? Neuropaz Martin Waehlisch 🌐🕊️ Joshua Martin Hernando Santamaría-García Lina M. Moros Francesca Yahoo Fassbender Anamaría Trujillo Currea Ana Margarita Almonacid Sandra Pabon Gustavo Caballero Catalina Estrada-Mejía Carlos Felipe Buitrago Panader Wilson López-López Jairo Matallana Mariana Santos Milachay María Paula Fajardo Barrera Silvana Torres Pacheco Gilma Liliana Ballesteros Peluffo PhD Juan Federico Pino Uribe Behavioral Scientist

Journalists, and media and cultural industry workers: On Monday, Berlin's culture committee will discuss implementing a CDU/SPD proposal that would compel artists and institutions to sign a declaration adhering to the IHRA definition of antisemitism as a precondition for receiving state funding. Artists/culture industry are collecting signatures to oppose this measure, which you can sign here: https://lnkd.in/d94bfcsD The IHRA definition is highly problematic, presenting constitutional challenges to fundamental rights. It is hardly the last word on "antisemitism"; in some regards, IHRA fuels it. Berlin's proposal would, among other things, require state-funded artists and institutions to uphold IHRA's view and ensure that funding "does not benefit any organizations that are classified as terrorist and/or extremist." Proposal (Deutsch) here: https://lnkd.in/d7CQTfkM

As the economic situation in many countries has gotten worse during the alst years, the discussion on how cultural heritage institutions should finance their work is up again. In museums, free entry is one of the aspects that is discussed regularly. Is free entry actually bringing in new audiences or is it just benificial for the already existing audiences? I often think that these discussions are not going into detail about the different kinds of museums and their place in society. Being an art museum in a major city has totally different implications for entry fees that it has for a local cultural history museum in a rural area. I really appreciated this German study from 2019 that analyzed free entry in different types of museums in Baden-Württemberg. They were able to show that it is specifically younger and recurring visitors that are attracted by free entry to museums, especially cultural history museums. However, they also highlighted that free entry is only one tool to increase diversity in an institution's audiences, and that it cannot be efficient as the only one used. A summary of the study (in German): https://lnkd.in/dZUiH-hu The study itself (in German): https://lnkd.in/datDKdgT #freeentry #museums