Over the past decades, nuanced research and engagement with material objects has emerged as an important part of historical and anthropological research. Following trends emerging from the fields of history, history of science, history of anthropology, and visual and museum anthropology, this group attends to the role of collections of natural and human-made materials as catalysts or jumping off points for historical and contemporary engagements in the production of knowledge widely construed, in all time periods and geographic regions.

The Vienna-based Collections and Collecting Brown Bag Lunch Seminar aims to bring together colleagues across disciplines and foster academic discussions for regular in-person and informal seminars where work-in-progress papers and projects will be presented. We invite members to discuss how objects have been gathered, circulated, bought and sold, organized, modified, and represented. That is, how they operate in and create different systems of value and to think about the relations they embody.

For our inaugural meeting we are very excited to host Mag. Doris Prlić and Nora Haas, who will be speaking about the "Taking Care" project they are undertaking with project lead Dr. Claudia Augustat at the Weltmuseum Wien (https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/wissenschaft-forschung/taking-care/).

Organizers: Dr. Jaanika Vider (Instituteof Social and Cultural Anthropology) & Dr. Brooke Penaloza-Patzak (Department of Economic and Social History)

Where? Sitzungszimmer of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (4th Floor, NIG)

When?

12.30 -14.00, 7th March

12.30-14.00, 2nd May

12.30 -14.00, 6th June