The book Colonial objects of Natural History – Recommendations, Research, Reflections, edited by Katja Kaiser and Ina Neumann of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, offers:
- Concrete recommendations for the following areas of museum work:
International collaborations (1.1), collections and research (1.2), digitization (1.3), exhibitions, education, and outreach (1.4). Each chapter includes a set of recommendations as well as background information based on current projects
and developments at the MfN. - Historical and theoretical research on the following topics:
Natural history museums and collections in debates about holdings from colonial contexts (2.1), connections between natural history and colonialism (2.2), the history of the MfN in the colonial era (2.3), colonial law and the collecting of natural history objects (2.4). - Reflections:
This section contains contributions from international museum experts and articles offering Indigenous, artistic, and philosophical perspectives on natural history museums (3.1–3.7).
From the Preamble by Johannes Vogel and Stephan Junker:
Colonial conditions continue to influence scientific structures, institutional practices, and global knowledge systems. The museum acknowledges the responsibility arising from this legacy and actively engages with the history of its collection, its scientific practices, and its role in colonial contexts. Its goal is to strengthen the capacity for self-reflection, to lay the foundations, and then
to foster new, more equitable forms of collaboration.
