With this Zurich Declaration of 2024, we aim to further raise awareness among the public, policymakers, and the media of the potential of ethnological and world culture museums and collections against the backdrop of rising nationalism and crises around the globe.
- For some time now, ethnological and world cultures museums and collections have been confronting their history as well as the pressing issues surrounding their institutions’ ties to colonialism and the resulting obligations and challenges. Through initiatives focused on diversity of voices, international exchange, and transparency, ethnological and world cultures museums and collections are working together with society.
- Ethnological and world cultures museums and collections can foster collaboration and exchange in a unique way and serve as spaces for developing decolonial practices and perspectives. With a newfound sense of self-confidence, people whose cultural heritage is preserved in museums and collections are now bringing their concerns regarding the handling of this heritage to our attention. At the same time, ethnological and world cultures museums and collections are making proactive efforts to reach out to potential partners and raise awareness of their collections. Decolonization must be a joint project in the mutual interest of all parties. The goal is to think beyond Europe, listen to one another, and work together constructively to develop solutions at the national, regional, and local levels.
- People from the countries of origin where our collections come from rightly expect transparency and openness. They are also entitled to chart their own course and make their own decisions regarding the handling of their cultural heritage preserved in museums and collections. These do not necessarily have to align with European expectations or the European understanding of the law. Every instance of consultation, participation, and restitution raises different questions! Above all: In addition to historical interconnections, every collection also holds the future — in the sense of new relationships forged through engagement with the collections and their history. Ethnological and world cultures museums and collections play a central role here.
- Today, ethnological and world cultures museums and collections are being tasked with an ever-increasing number of new and more comprehensive responsibilities. They make lasting contributions to decolonization that are of great social relevance. In order to continue fulfilling this mission, ethnological and world cultures museums and collections require financial planning certainty and adjustments to their budgets. This is where policymakers must step up.
- A pressing issue at present is the funding of cooperative projects as well as restitution projects. Such projects play an important role in building relationships. We call on policymakers to transparently provide the necessary funding to ensure that cooperation and restitution efforts — in all their necessary facets — remain sustainable in the long term.
- Finally, we urgently call on the foreign ministries of the countries where we are based to facilitate the issuance of visas for our cooperation partners, in accordance with the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (see Article 16 of the Convention) to facilitate the issuance of visas for our cooperation partners. Only through dignified conditions of cooperation can trust be established, can relevant research questions be developed jointly, and can we arrive at an adequate understanding of the significance of the cultural heritage preserved here — both for people in the collections’ countries of origin and for post-migrant society as a whole.
Signatories:
- Wiebke Ahrndt, Übersee-Museum Bremen, Bremen
- Bianca Baumann, Ethnografische Studiensammlung, Universität Mainz, Mainz
- Annette Bhagwati, Museum Rietberg, Zürich
- Inés de Castro, Linden-Museum, Stuttgart
- Jonathan Fine, Weltmuseum Wien, Wien
- Mareile Flitsch, ISEK-Völkerkundemuseum Universität Zürich, Zürich
- Sarah-Nelly Friedland, Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim
- Lars Frühsorge, Sammlung Kulturen der Welt, Lübeck
- Daniel Furter, Schloss Burgdorf, Burgdorf
- Peter Fux, Kulturmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen
- Ernst Halbmayer u. Dagmar Schweitzer de Palacios, Ethnographische Sammlung Universität Marburg, Marburg
- Peter Joch und Rainer Hatoum, Städtisches Museum Braunschweig, Braunschweig
- Lars-Christian Koch, Alexis von Poser und Tina Brüderlin, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin
- Michael Kraus, Ethnologische Sammlung, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen
- Nicole Landmann-Burghart, Ethnologische Sammlung, Museum Natur und Mensch, Freiburg
- Katja Lembke, Landesmuseum Hannover, Hannover
- Heidrun Löb, Nordamerika Native Museum NONAM, Zürich
- Léontine Meijer-van-Mensch, SKD Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen, Dresden
- Lara Weiss und Andrea Nicklisch, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim
- Karoline Noack, BASA-Museum (Bonner Amerikas-Sammlung), Universität Bonn, Bonn
- Thomas Pauli-Gabi, Bernisches Historisches Museum, Bern
- Barbara Plankensteiner, Museum am Rothenbaum MARKK, Hamburg
- Anna Schmid, Museum der Kulturen, Basel
- Nanette Snoep, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Köln
- Alban von Stockhausen, Völkerkundemuseum der J. & E. von Portheim-Stiftung, Heidelberg
- Mona Suhrbier, Weltkulturenmuseum, Frankfurt a.M.
- Uta Werlich, Museum Fünf Kontinente, München
