Margareta von Oswald is a research fellow at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin.

Impressive. This research spans a crucial decade of critique, debate, and change in Europe’s ethnological museums. The fieldwork offers a rich 'inside' view of the choices facing museum professionals working under unprecedented pressures and constraints. Von Oswald’s attitude of 'observant participation' dissolves the binaries that can orient understandings of a controversial project like the Humboldt Forum. The book’s detailed ethnographic accounts are effectively articulated with analyses pitched at wider institutional, national and international levels. The organizing concept of 'working through' denotes acting within-and-against institutional structures, working toward a transformation without guarantees. Von Oswald argues for more open, responsive, decolonizing developments, without ever grasping for easy alternatives or final solutions.James Clifford, University of California

• A visual introduction Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Chapter One Learning about German colonialism: On memory, activism, and the Humboldt Forum Chapter Two Being affected: A methodological approach to working through colonial collections Chapter Three Expanding collection histories: The museum as peopled organisation Chapter Four Troubling epistemologies: On the endurance of colonial discrimination Chapter Five Managing plethora:Caring for colonial collections Chapter Six Researching provenance: The politics of writing history Chapter Seven Probing materiality: Collections as amalgams of their histories Chapter Eight Repairing representations: Curatorial cultures and change in the Ethnological Museum Conclusion Timeline References cited

Margareta von Oswald is a research fellow at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin.

Impressive. This research spans a crucial decade of critique, debate, and change in Europe’s ethnological museums. The fieldwork offers a rich 'inside' view of the choices facing museum professionals working under unprecedented pressures and constraints. Von Oswald’s attitude of 'observant participation' dissolves the binaries that can orient understandings of a controversial project like the Humboldt Forum. The book’s detailed ethnographic accounts are effectively articulated with analyses pitched at wider institutional, national and international levels. The organizing concept of 'working through' denotes acting within-and-against institutional structures, working toward a transformation without guarantees. Von Oswald argues for more open, responsive, decolonizing developments, without ever grasping for easy alternatives or final solutions.James Clifford, University of California

• A visual introduction Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Chapter One Learning about German colonialism: On memory, activism, and the Humboldt Forum Chapter Two Being affected: A methodological approach to working through colonial collections Chapter Three Expanding collection histories: The museum as peopled organisation Chapter Four Troubling epistemologies: On the endurance of colonial discrimination Chapter Five Managing plethora:Caring for colonial collections Chapter Six Researching provenance: The politics of writing history Chapter Seven Probing materiality: Collections as amalgams of their histories Chapter Eight Repairing representations: Curatorial cultures and change in the Ethnological Museum Conclusion Timeline References cited

Margareta von Oswald is a research fellow at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin.

Impressive. This research spans a crucial decade of critique, debate, and change in Europe’s ethnological museums. The fieldwork offers a rich 'inside' view of the choices facing museum professionals working under unprecedented pressures and constraints. Von Oswald’s attitude of 'observant participation' dissolves the binaries that can orient understandings of a controversial project like the Humboldt Forum. The book’s detailed ethnographic accounts are effectively articulated with analyses pitched at wider institutional, national and international levels. The organizing concept of 'working through' denotes acting within-and-against institutional structures, working toward a transformation without guarantees. Von Oswald argues for more open, responsive, decolonizing developments, without ever grasping for easy alternatives or final solutions.James Clifford, University of California

• A visual introduction Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Chapter One Learning about German colonialism: On memory, activism, and the Humboldt Forum Chapter Two Being affected: A methodological approach to working through colonial collections Chapter Three Expanding collection histories: The museum as peopled organisation Chapter Four Troubling epistemologies: On the endurance of colonial discrimination Chapter Five Managing plethora:Caring for colonial collections Chapter Six Researching provenance: The politics of writing history Chapter Seven Probing materiality: Collections as amalgams of their histories Chapter Eight Repairing representations: Curatorial cultures and change in the Ethnological Museum Conclusion Timeline References cited