Material Migrations I
An Online Lecture Series

Concept and organization: Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo and Vera-Simone Schulz

The “Material Migrations” lecture series centers issues of object mobility, transcultural dynamics, and notions of connectivity and resistance with case studies from the Middle Ages until today. Connected to the international collaborative research project “Material Migrations: Mamluk Metalwork across Afro-Eurasia”, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and directed by Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo and Vera-Simone Schulz, the online lecture series sheds new light on the lives and afterlives of objects, but also counterbalances an object-centered with a people-centered approach. Interdisciplinary in nature, the series brings together researchers and cultural practitioners from different institutions across the globe, fostering nuanced analyses that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Through engagement with art history, history, archaeology, anthropology, literary studies, and contemporary art, the lectures offer innovative perspectives on questions of canonization and the overcoming of canons, on visual and material culture, critical museology, critical heritage studies, preservation, conservation, and questions of care. The first round of talks and conversations this year will focus on Afro-Eurasian and global dynamics, on Durbi Takusheyi as a hub for people and objects crisscrossing the African continent, on objects and materials in relation to sites and the environment, on the present and future of heritage sites and museums, on contemporary approaches to Black presence in the Uffizi galleries, and on present pasts in the medium of film. Illuminating the interconnectedness of human experiences and material artifacts, “Material Migrations” highlights their enduring significance in contemporary contexts.

The on-going lecture series is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome to register and attend. A follow-up program will be published in the coming months.

For more information on the “Material Migrations” project, please visit: https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/material_migrations_mamluk_metalwork_across_afro_eurasia