Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie

I am Junior Professor of Social Anthropology at the Institute for European Ethnology with a joint affiliation at the Hermannn von Helmholtz Centre for Cultural Techniques (HZK). My research focuses on material and visual culture, as well as critical heritage studies.

I have conducted long-term anthropological fieldwork, archival research and museum ethnography research in Romania and the UK, and have also worked on ethnographic projects in Italy and Poland. Drawing on an ethnographic study in the waterscapes of Italy, I am currently developing a new research agenda focused on wetland heritage and the connections between social and environmental justice.

As a member of the Amo Collective Berlin, I work on developing research-based, collaborative artistic and curatorial formats of decolonial scholarly and urban practice. Before my academic career, I worked in applied anthropology within both the private sector and museums. I am especially interested in exploring new approaches to ethnographic writing and exhibition making. 

In addition to my HU work, I am a member of the DFG Public Anthropology Network, and I serve as vice-chair and German hub coordinator of the TRACTS Cost Action on Traces as Research Agenda for Climate Change, Technology Studies and Social Justice. As part of this network, I co-authored "Practising Collection Ethics: A Toolkit for Museum and Archive Professionals", and am co-editing two forthcoming volumes: "Unearthing Collections: Archives, Time and Ethics" (UCL Press) and "Counter-Cartographies of Trace" (De Gruyter).

I collaborate across academic and curatorial practices, working with a variety of institutions in both research and teaching, including the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin, the German Hygiene Museum (DHMD), the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, and the Weltmuseum in Vienna.  

My past co-curated exhibitions include:

• Revisiting Romania: Dress and Identity at the Horniman Museum in London reimagined a 1950s museum collection through ethnographic research
• Forging Folklore, Disrupting Archives at Constance Howard Gallery in London worked to remediate textile collections through critical art interventions

• Learning City: A Self-Portrait at Coexist Gallery, Hamilton House in Bristol brought together contributions from a range of partners such as Barton Hill Settlement, Countering Colston, Dhek Bhal, Easton Community Centre, Bristol Bike Project, Coexist Community Kitchen, Refugee Women of Bristol, St Mungo's, Workers' Educational Association and Wild Walks for Wellbeing as well as artists Eleanor Shipman, Joff Winterhart and Biggerhouse Film 

I am also passionate about disability justice and play an active role in the IfEE Collective Access group.

I joined the HU as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow in 2019, following a postdoctoral project on learning cities at the University of Bristol. My academic background includes training in anthropology (Goldsmiths College) and critical heritage studies (UCL), and I have taught at institutions including Goldsmiths, the Bristol Doctoral School, and Imperial College London.

Research areas 

• material and visual culture
• critical heritage studies
• collection research and curating
• museum ethnography 
• memory, heritage politics and activism
• making, craft, knowledge production
• trace as epistemological, ethical and methodological challenge
• informal learning, affect and care

Office hours

Office hours are held on Fridays from 9-11h during the term. Please arrange an appointment by email and specify the length of the meeting.

Teaching

In the winter and summer semesters 2024/2025, I am coordinating the Master Studienprojekt "Overloaded! Inter-imperial Entanglements of Material and Photographic Collections in Berlin and Vienna" co-taught with dr. Hanin Hannouch, Curator for Analog & Digital Media (Photo/Audio/Film) at Weltmuseum Wien & Anna Szöke, Research Coordinator of the "Collaborative Museum" project at the Ethnologisches Museum/Museum für Asiatische Kunst.

More info here. 

Supervision

I am interested in supervising BA, MA and PhD students in the fields highlighted above. For enquiries, please email a research outline to magdalena.buchczyk@hu-berlin.de