Colonialism today?! What does this have to do with me?

Academic engagement with colonial heritage in museums has gained increasing significance in Austria, to date primarily within ethnographic and contemporary history museums. This project brought natural history collections into this discourse: pupils became researchers themselves, engaging with the current implications of colonialism and the colonial heritage of the Natural History Museum (NHM) Vienna.

Together with researchers and education staff from the NHM Vienna, EDUCULT, and trafo.K, pupils reflected on colonial acquisition contexts and continuities in museum practice. As citizen scientists, they participated alongside the research team in a repatriation ceremony. They conducted interviews with experts and museum researchers, practised decolonial “unlearning” in workshops, and explored different approaches to museum education. Colonial connections were reflected upon collectively using the Brazil exhibition as a case study. On this basis, together with the project team,  pupils developed their own (multimedia) methods and formats for making colonial provenances visible.

Through the activities of the young citizen scientists, among other contributions, the research project produced a foundation for concrete recommendations for action aimed at establishing a colonialism-critical museum practice at the Natural History Museum. The project thus strengthens awareness of colonial continuities and contributes to sustainably embedding decoloniality in educational and mediation work.

The recommendations for action are a useful resource for anyone wishing to engage with decolonisation in the museum context: Recommendations for Action (German)