Books by Manuela M . Fischer
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HISTOIRE(S) de l`Amérique latine, 2022
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INDIANA, 2020
Abstract: The destruction of the collections at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, which had ... more Abstract: The destruction of the collections at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, which had hosted indigenous material culture gathered over two centuries, spotlighted the importance of early Amazonian collections in European museums. The circulation of objects and knowledge in the 19th and the early 20th century is part of a history of interactions within global systems. Epistemological, political, social and economic aspects shaped the collections, following shifting interests related to scientific endeavors, colonization or extractivism, just to name the more common ones. The agents involved in the collecting in the South American Lowlands were scholars from different disciplines, settlers, politicians and traders linked by global interests. The close relationship of the then Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin and the Göteborgs Museum in Gothenburg with the Museu Nacional and other Brazilian institutions since the 1880s is striking, as they mutually engaged in the exchange of objects for major exhibitions and enriched the scientific exchange of knowledge, by sending and interchanging collections. Today, these objects stored in Berlin as well as in Gothenburg, could be incorporated into the reconstruction of the Museu Nacional, or directly could be put in dialogue with communities in the 21st century. ese collections were gathered with many purposes; however, from the beginning in Berlin with Adolf Bastian, and in Gothenburg with Erland Nordenskiöld, the idea of an archive for the future was a primal one. The question remains, how to handle this ‘universal archive’ at risk?
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Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Études Andines, 2017
In the 1960s two similar silver corncobs attributed to the Chimú-Inca period were sold by New Yor... more In the 1960s two similar silver corncobs attributed to the Chimú-Inca period were sold by New York based art dealers to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, now the Ethnologisches Museum, and to the Denver Art Museum. The composition of the Berlin piece shows the use of different alloys, suggesting the reuse of different pre-Columbian objects. Only the hard-solders used to join the different parts of the corncobs contain an amount of zinc that might indicate a modern intervention.
The hypothesis of this article is that economic stability in the 1960s combined with the desire to restore Second World War losses in museums collections particularly in Germany paved the way for doubtable purchases including forgeries.
Keywords: metallurgy, silver, miniature, forgery, Robert Stolper, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
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Papers by Manuela M . Fischer
Uncommon Culture, 2015
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Bulletin de l’Institut français d’études andines, 2017
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El primer viaje a las Américas en 1892 llevó Max Uhle (1856-1944) a Argentina y Bolivia. Esta mis... more El primer viaje a las Américas en 1892 llevó Max Uhle (1856-1944) a Argentina y Bolivia. Esta misión del entonces Museo Real de Etnología (Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde) en Berlín tuvo el propósito de investigar la frontera meridional del Imperio Inca. Uhle inicia su investigación en el sector meridional del noroeste argentino, específicamente en el departamento Tinogasta en la provincia de Catamarca. Desde allí Uhle exploró los alrededores y recogió artefactos arqueológicos que se encuentran en el Museo Etnológico (Ethnologisches Museum) de Berlín. Este material refleja su profunda preocupación por las cronologías de las culturas prehispánicas, que también se ve documentado en los reportes al director del museo en Berlín, Adolf Bastian, y en las libretas de campo, guardadas en el Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut en Berlín. Este material inédito contiene datos sumamente valiosos para los objetivos del Proyecto Arqueológico Chaschuil-Abaucán que bajo la dirección de la primera auto...
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The destruction of the collections at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, which had hosted indi... more The destruction of the collections at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, which had hosted indigenous material culture gathered over two centuries, spotlighted the importance of early Amazonian collections in European museums. The circulation of objects and knowledge in the 19th and the early 20th century is part of a history of interactions within global systems. Epistemological, political, social and economic aspects shaped the collections, following shifting interests related to scientific endeavors, colonization or extractivism, just to name the more common ones. The agents involved in the collecting in the South American Lowlands were scholars from different disciplines, settlers, politicians and traders linked by global interests. The close relationship of the then Museum fur Volkerkunde in Berlin and the Goteborgs Museum in Gothenburg with the Museu Nacional and other Brazilian institutions since the 1880s is striking, as they mutually engaged in the exchange of objects for...
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Journal for the Art Market Studies 1, 2022
The focus of this paper is on collectors of naturalia who also gathered “ethnographic” objects al... more The focus of this paper is on collectors of naturalia who also gathered “ethnographic” objects alongside their main interest that lay in botany, zoology, mineralogy etc., providing collections to zoological gardens and museums of natural history. Carl Hagenbeck, Johann Umlauff and Otto
Staudinger are only the most prominent names from the turn of century. They were the principals for many collecting projects. The permeability of scientific spaces in the nineteenth century is more visible in collections gathered by commercial expeditions with an orientation towards natural sciences than in ethnological and archaeological expeditions. Another aspect of this scholarly permeability was the popularization of science in the second half of the nineteenth century. Ernst Ule was a typical representative of this movement. The permeability between “scientific” and “commercial” interests and the necessary networks, programmatic in the “human science” in the late nineteenth century, is visible in the close interrelation between disciplines. The fact that the focus of these
scholars was not the study of people in the first place but the collection of botanical or zoological specimens, where the knowledge of indigenous experts was indispensable, shaped not only the collection but also the relationship between the collectors and the communities involved.
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Bulletin de l’Institut français d’études andines
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Baessler-Archiv, 2019
With the centenary of the research trip of Konrad Theodor Preuss to Colombia in 2013, the sculptu... more With the centenary of the research trip of Konrad Theodor Preuss to Colombia in 2013, the sculptures of San Agustin, an archaeological site in the south of Colombia, once again attracted public attention. In 1913 Konrad Theodor Preuss had researched these sculptures, excavated them and sent collections to the Museum für Völkerkundein Berlin, where he was as curator. The history of the sculptures of San Agustin shows that these objects, completely independent of their original purpose, have been used for over a hundred years by various actors in different legal spaces to draw attention to conflicts, and it can be assumed that this phenomenon will continue in the future under changed conditions.
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Tribus, 2015, pp. 24-37.
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Books by Manuela M . Fischer
The hypothesis of this article is that economic stability in the 1960s combined with the desire to restore Second World War losses in museums collections particularly in Germany paved the way for doubtable purchases including forgeries.
Keywords: metallurgy, silver, miniature, forgery, Robert Stolper, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
Papers by Manuela M . Fischer
Staudinger are only the most prominent names from the turn of century. They were the principals for many collecting projects. The permeability of scientific spaces in the nineteenth century is more visible in collections gathered by commercial expeditions with an orientation towards natural sciences than in ethnological and archaeological expeditions. Another aspect of this scholarly permeability was the popularization of science in the second half of the nineteenth century. Ernst Ule was a typical representative of this movement. The permeability between “scientific” and “commercial” interests and the necessary networks, programmatic in the “human science” in the late nineteenth century, is visible in the close interrelation between disciplines. The fact that the focus of these
scholars was not the study of people in the first place but the collection of botanical or zoological specimens, where the knowledge of indigenous experts was indispensable, shaped not only the collection but also the relationship between the collectors and the communities involved.
The hypothesis of this article is that economic stability in the 1960s combined with the desire to restore Second World War losses in museums collections particularly in Germany paved the way for doubtable purchases including forgeries.
Keywords: metallurgy, silver, miniature, forgery, Robert Stolper, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
Staudinger are only the most prominent names from the turn of century. They were the principals for many collecting projects. The permeability of scientific spaces in the nineteenth century is more visible in collections gathered by commercial expeditions with an orientation towards natural sciences than in ethnological and archaeological expeditions. Another aspect of this scholarly permeability was the popularization of science in the second half of the nineteenth century. Ernst Ule was a typical representative of this movement. The permeability between “scientific” and “commercial” interests and the necessary networks, programmatic in the “human science” in the late nineteenth century, is visible in the close interrelation between disciplines. The fact that the focus of these
scholars was not the study of people in the first place but the collection of botanical or zoological specimens, where the knowledge of indigenous experts was indispensable, shaped not only the collection but also the relationship between the collectors and the communities involved.