You are here: Home Teaching Projects Forschendes Lernen im Uniseum

Forschendes Lernen im Uniseum

 

Uniseum Freiburg                                                UCF Logo


Seit einigen Jahren gibt es gestiegenes Interesse an Universitätsobjektbeständen und -
sammlungen. Sie sind Teil des kulturellen und universitären Erbes und bieten Material für Forschung, für forschungsbasierte Lehre und/oder für die museale Präsentation. Deutschlandweite und vielfältige dezentrale Initiativen bemühen sich darum, diese Bestände entsprechend zu nutzen und aufzuarbeiten.

Im Uniseum werden über 550 Jahre Freiburger Universitätsgeschichte dokumentiert und präsentiert. Im Lehrprojekt "Forschendes Lernen im Uniseum" entwickeln und überarbeiten Studierende in forschungsbasierten und zugleich berufsqualifizierenden Veranstaltungen Ausstellungsbestandteile der Universität: 

Uniseum Kabinette 1 Uniseum Kabinette 2 Uniseum Kabinette 3

Audioguide Produktion im Seminar Kabinette des Wissens im 19./20. Jahrhundert (WS 2017/18)

 

Lehrveranstaltungen im Sommersemester 2018

(More information in the LAS Course Catalog.)

Human Remains Exhibited? Skulls as Objects of Colonialism, Race Science and Museal Display

Skull collections around the world – but particularly in Germany – have received much controversial attention recently: As objects representing a problematic legacy of Germany's colonial era, as objects of repatriation claims, as objects of scientific inquiry into race in past and present, and as objects of display in museums and exhibits. Freiburg university hosts one of the most fervently debated skull collections in Germany: The "Alexander-Ecker-Collection".

The course will tackle different perspectives on the collection that was initiated by the anatomist and physician Alexander Ecker (1816-1887); after his death, a number of successors looked after the collection, most notably Eugen Fischer (1874-1967), who later become spearhead of the national-socialist race ideology. In 2002, the collection became part of the University Archives. In recent years, the collection mostly appeared in media reports in the context of repatriation requests from Namibia and Australia. As a result, provenance research on the collection took place, and some of the remains have been returned to their homelands (i.e. to Namibia in 2013). This short summary of the collection's history already highlights key topics/questions for the course:

  • What are the historical contexts under which collection took place? Why did people collect skulls in the 19th and early 20th century?
  • How was the collection interpreted in the past – and how do various stakeholders see and understand it today?
  • How can the collection's future be imagined – caught between being testimony to a certain period in the history of science, current scientific potential, and ethical demands brought about by its very existence?
  • How can the collection, its difficult history, and the various perspectives on it, be presented in an exhibition?

The course will combine theoretical and interdisciplinary perspectives, historical and contemporary research with practical application: Students will conduct independent research projects on various aspects of the topic, the results of which will be used to create a new exhibition unit in the Uniseum.

The course is conducted by Prof. Veronika Lipphardt with the cooperation of Prof. Dr. Ursula Wittwer-Backofen and Prof. Dr. Dieter Speck, and will be accompanied by Sarah Fründt (Chair in Science and Technology Studies) and Angela Meran-Witt (Uniseum). All of these will bring in their own expertise and practical experience, thus highlighting different perspectives on the collection.
 

Creating an Exhibition Unit for the Uniseum: The Alexander Ecker Collection

This block course implements the findings from the previous course within the Uniseum exhibition. It will equip students with practical skills in exhibition conceptualization and design. Realization of the exhibition requires the development of an exhibition concept as well as detail work such as the writing of exhibition texts, the design of multimedia presentations, the search for suitable images and illustrations, the design and conceptualization of PR strategies and instruments. 

Vergangene Lehrveranstaltungen