I work at the intersection of art history, anthropology, and museum studies with a particular focus on the arts of Global Africa. The topics of my books range from the debate on African modernities (2002) and the study of landscape, locality, and belonging in Malawi (2006) to the political aesthetics of heritage and the dynamics of modernism in Nigeria (2011). My most recent books are informed by the decolonial turn in the humanities and social sciences. "National Museums in Africa" came out in 2021 with Routledge. Co-edited with Ray Silverman and George Abungu, the volume explores the role and history of African national museums in the context of the current debates on restitution and decolonization. "What is African art? A Short History" came out in 2022 with The University of Chicago Press. It discusses the making, remaking, and unmaking of African art as a field of study from its colonial beginnings in the late 19th century to the decolonial present. "Art History and Anthropology - Modern Encounters, 1870 and 1970," was published in Fall 2023 with Getty Publications. Co-edited with Joseph Imorde the volume interrogates the complex relationships of art history and anthropology during the entangled periods of modernism and colonialism. I am currently starting a new project on postmigrant dynamics and the inheritance of loss with a special focus on the history of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

2001. Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Anthropology, University of Bayreuth, Germany

1990. Ph.D. in Anthropology, Free University Berlin, Germany

1984. M.Phil. in Anthropology, University of Cambridge, England

1983. M.A. in Anthropology, Free University Berlin, Germany

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

2011 – present Full Professor, Department of the History of Art and Architecture,

Secondary Appointment: Department of Anthropology, Tufts University

2012 – 2017 Chair, Department of Art History, Tufts University

2011 Full Professor, Department of Art History, Tufts University

2005 – 2010 Associate Professor, Department of Art History, Secondary Appointment:

Department of Anthropology, Tufts University

1999 – 2004 Associate Professor, Iwalewa-Haus, Center for African Art,

University of Bayreuth

2000 – 2001 Guest Professor, Frobenius Institute, Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe University, Frankfurt a.M.

1993 – 1998 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Free University,

Berlin

1994 – 1998 Research Associate, Institute of Social Research, Chancellor

College, University of Malawi, Zomba

1991 – 1993 Assistant Curator, Museum of Ethnology, Berlin (SMPK)

1985 – 1987 Research Associate, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific

Research (MESRES), Yaoundé, Cameroon

GRANTS, AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS

2023 Invitation for Senior Fellowship, Advanced Institute of Cultural Studies,

Vienna, declined

2022 – 2023 Tufts Tisch College, Faculty Fellowship

2022 Scholar in Residence, Tufts European Center, Talloires/France

2022 FRAC / Grant in Aid for Archival Research on Mauss’s Museum in France

and Switzerland

2021 Invitation for Guest Professorship at Free University Berlin, declined

2020 Scholar in Residence, Tufts European Center, Talloires/France (cancelled

due to Covid 19)

2017 Getty Senior Scholar Grant and Fellowship

2017 Faculty Research Grant for Archival Research in Ghana

2015 – 2016 Tufts Tisch College, Senior Fellowship

2015 Mellon / GAHTC Grant for “Histories of Heritage” together with

Michelle Apotsos (Williams College) and Brinker Ferguson (UCSC)

2015 Faculty Research Grant for Project on Aby Warburg and

Leo Frobenius

2014 Faculty Research Grant for Archival Research on Aby Warburg

2014 Arts Council of the African Studies Association, Arnold Rubin

Outstanding Book Award 2014, Honourable Mention for “Osogbo and

the Art of Heritage” (IUP 2011)

2012 Nigerian Studies book award for “Osogbo and the Art of

Heritage” (IUP 2011)

2011 – 2013 Tufts Collaborates Award “Media Aesthetics,” Principal Investigator

2010 Tufts Humanities Center, Faculty Fellowship

2010 Tufts Tisch College, Faculty Fellowship

2010 Faculty Research Grant for “The Canaletto View. Heritage Trouble in

Dresden”

2009 CELT Faculty Fellow, Tufts University

2008 Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies, (IFK), Vienna,

Austria

2007 Professorship (W2), University of Frankfurt a.M, offered but declined

2006 – 2007 Summer Research Grant / FRAC (“The Art of Heritage in Nigeria”),

Tufts University

2003 Conference Grant (“Local Vitality and the Globalization of the Local”)

African Studies Center, University of Bayreuth & German Research

Council (DFG)

2002 – 2005 Research Grant (“Kunstwelten in Interaktion”), German Research

Council (DFG)

2002 Conference Grant (“A Passion for Difference”), African Studies

Center, University of Bayreuth & German Research Council (DFG)

2000 – 2002 Research Grant (“Imagination, Ästhetische Praxis und Globale

Kunstwelt in Afrika”), German Research Council (DFG)

2000 Colloquium Grant (“Negotiating Modernity in Africa”), Johann

Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt

1999 Conference Grant (“Media, Mediality and Imagination.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives”), University of Bayreuth, Institute of

Africa n Studies

1998 Lecture Series (“African Modernities”), Thyssen Stiftung

1996 – 1998 Post-Doctoral Scholarship / Habilitation (“Nyau Maskenbünde in

Zentralmalawi”), German Research Council (DFG)

1987 – 1990 Doctoral Scholarship (“Text im Kontext: Schriftlichkeit im Grasland

von Kamerun), German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung)

1984 – 1986 Scholarship and Travel Grant, German Academic Exchange Program

(DAAD)

1984 Travel Grant, Girton College, Cambridge, England

EXHIBITIONS

2012 Global Flows. (co-curated Amy Schlegel and members of the Tufts Art History

Department. Tufts University Art Gallery

2006 Cross-Currents in Recent Video Installation: Water as a Metaphor for Identity

(co-curated with Pamella Alara and Amy Schlegel), Tufts University Art Gallery & Harn

Museum University of Florida, Gainesville

2003 Spuren des Heiligen. Fotografische Pigmentdrucke von Lukas Werth

Iwalewa Haus, University of Bayreuth

2000. Fabulous Beasts. Masked Portraits of Douglas Curran. Iwalewa Haus, University of

Bayreuth

1993 Von Kokos zu Plastik. Kulturen der Südsee im Wandel. (co-curated with Mattias

Schindlbeck), Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SMKP)

1992 Der Dekorierte Körper: Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SMKP)

LECTURES

5/2023 Keeping the Goddess Alive. Susanne Wenger and the Dynamics of Modernism in

Nigeria. Brown University, Haffenreffer Museum.

4/2023 Under Suspicion: The Case of Hans Himmelheber (1908-2003). Museum Rietberg,

Zuerich, Switzerland

12/2022 The Gift of Heritage: Generational Reciprocity and the Conflicts over Exchange, Tisch

College

10/2022 Experiences of Diversity. Von Berlin nach Boston und Zurück. Goethe Institute,

Boston (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)

5/2022 What do we talk about when we talk about African art and how do we write about

it? Rietberg, Museum Zürich, Switzerland

5/2022 Mauss’s Museum. Decolonization, Restitution and the Postmigrant Condition. Basel,

African Studies Center, Switzerland

5/2022 Mauss’s Museum. Decolonization, Restitution and the Postmigrant Condition. Tufts

European Center, Talloires, France.

5/2022 National Museums in Africa. Identity, History, Politics. Just Conversations Series.

Stellenbosch University Museum, South Africa

5/2021 What’s Left? African Art and Anthropology. ACASA Triennial, UCLA

4/2021 What do we talk about when we talk about African art and how do we write about

it? Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Freie Universität Berlin

42021 Fragments: Jacob Lawrence and the Osogbo Episode, Clark Institute, Williamstown,

MA

2/2020 Does Heritage Have a Form? Tufts University Gallery

12/2019 Collecting Africa. Museums, Foreign Actors and Local Contexts. ASA, Boston

6/2019 How to Write a History of the Contemporary? RUFA, Rome

9/2018 Coming to Terms with Heritage. Some Lessons from Research in Nigeria. Institute of

Visual Studies, University of Southern California

6/2018 The Uncanny Other. Aby Warburg, Leo Frobenius, and the Figuration of Fields.

Workshop. Regarding the Unknown. Early Encounters of Anthropology and Art

History. University of Siegen

6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Schule des

Sehens, University of Mainz

6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Iwalewa

Haus, University of Bayreuth

6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Institut für

Kunstgeschichte, LMU University of Munich

6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Institut für

Kunstgeschichte, Free University of Berlin

7/2017 What is a National Museum in Africa? ACASA Conference, Accra, Ghana

5/2017 True Value. Keeping the World Together in the Study of (African) Art. Getty

Research Institute Center, Los Angeles

10/2016 Histories of Heritage. University of Washington

3/2016 The Study of Heritage in Urban Africa. Notes towards a Research Agenda.

Emory University

10/2015 Christos’s River. On Preservation and the Problem of the Gift. Roger Williams

University

4/2015 On Neighboring, Tisch College, Tufts University

9/2014 Rags over the River. Reflections on the Global Cult of Heritage. Graduiertenkolleg

Kulturkontakt und Wissenschaftsdiskurs. University of Rostock

6/2014 Der Unheimliche Andere. Warburg und Frobenius. Institut für Kunstgeschichte, FU

Berlin

2/2014 Über Kreuz: Aby Warburgs Verhältnis zu Leo Frobenius. Frobenius Institut, Johann

Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt

11/2013 On Property, Values, and Exchange: Living with (World)Heritage in Nigeria. African

Studies Workshop, Harvard University

6/2013 Iconocrash. On Heritage, Property, and Exchange in Nigeria, African Studies

Institute, University of Cologne

7/2012 Bedürfnis zur Beachtung: Ikonoklasmus, afrikanisches Kulturerbe und Bildökonomie

(annual Frobenius lecture). Frobenius Institute, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University

of Frankfurt

7/2012 Osogbo and the Art of Heritage. Iwalewa Haus, University of Bayreuth

History. Boston University, Department of the History of Art and Architecture.

7/2012 New Media for Old Deities: Creating and Disputing Icons in a Nigerian World

Heritage Site. CIHA conference on “The Challenge of the Object.”

Nuremberg, Germany

3/2012 From Einstein to Enwezor. Why and How to Write a History of African Art

7/2011 Kultur als Erbe. Vom Sozialen Faktum zur Globalen Bewegung. Institut für

Ethnologie und Afrikawissenschaften, University of Mainz, Germany

6/2011 Das Bild als Gabe. Überlegungen zur Theorie des Kulturerbes. Institut für

Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, University of Vienna

6-2011 Aura and Effect. Introduction to Conference on the Media of Religion. Institute

für Cultural Studies, IFK, Vienna

6/2011 Aura and Effect. The Media of Religion. Conference organized for the

Institute of Cultural Studies, Vienna, Austria

6/2011 Susanne Wenger und der Osun Hain in Nigeria. Völkerkundemuseum,

Vienna

5/2011 The Politics of Presence. On Heritage, Media, and Religion. International

conference on “Materiality, Memory, and Cultural Heritage.” Technical

University, Istanbul, Turkey,

4/2011 Divine Distance. Media-Theoretical Reflections on Art and Religion. Tufts

Humanities Center

4/2011 Atlas versus the Cherry Tree: Museum, the Nation, and the World. Panel

Discussion, Weatherhead Center, Harvard University

3/2011 Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage. Arts Council of the African Studies

Association Conference, UCLA

3/2011 Kultur als Erbe. Vom Sozialen Faktum zur Globalen Bewegung. Institut für

Kulturwissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Germany

11/2010 World Heritage in the Parliament of Things. With Professor Latour on a Visit

to Dresden, Weatherhead Centre, Harvard University

11/2010 Strategies and Tactics – Again: Revisiting De Certeau in the Study of African

Visual Culture. ASA Conference, San Francisco

10/2010 Contemporary and Contemporaneity. Remarks on the Politics of Time.

Workshop on “Disputing the Global. Art History’s Future Symposium.“ Tufts

University

5/2010 Expanding the Empire of the Goddess. Religious Tourism and Processes of

Retraditionalization in Nigeria. International Conference on “Tourism and Word

Heritage,” University of Lawal, Quebec,

11/2009 Heritage as an Image Machine. Examples from Fieldwork in Africa. African

Studies Association Conference, Panel: The Heritage Industry

3/2009 The Value of Art – An African Perspective. Symposium on “The Value of Art.

The Place of Art in the University Today,” Tufts University

2/2009 Modernism Against Modernity. How The Grove of a Nigerian River Deity

became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sixth Savannah Symposium: World

Heritage and National Registers in Perspective. Savannah College of Art and

Design

11/2008 Das Dilemma des Zeitgenössischen. Oder Was Heißt Afrikanische

Kunstgeschichte Heute? Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Freie Universität Berlin

11/2008 Revisiting Osogbo. Images, Media and the Art of Mediation. Columbia

Seminar on African, American and Oceanic Arts, Columbia University, NY

6/2008 Osogbo oder die drei Weisen von Präsenz. Institut für Kulturwissenschaftliche

Forschung, Vienna, Austria

5/2008 Im Zeichen des Körpers. Überlegungungen zum Studium des Kulturerbes

als Normative Ordnung. Frobenius Institut, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

University, Frankfurt, Germany

12/2007 Expansion als Interaktion. Globale Kunstwelten Heute. Kunstuniversität Linz

4/2007 Picturing the Past. Photography, Memory and the Politics of Appearance in

Nigeria. Triannual ACASA Conference, University of Florida, Gainesville

1/2007 Cultural Heritage and the Popularity of Primitivism. Panel. “Time Loops. The

Revival of Primitivism”. College Arts Association, New York.

11/2006 Entangled Presence. The Art, Economics and Poetics of Heritage. ASA

Annual Conference, San Francisco

10/2006 Against Religion. Imagination, Style and the Politics of Appearance, Walter

Rodney Seminar Series, Boston University

5/2006 Heritage as Presence. St Cross Africa Lecture, Oxford University

5/2006 Money, Media, and Memory: Heritage Politics in Nigeria. International

Conference on “Religion and Media”. University of Amsterdam

4/2006 Contested Presence. Memory and Media in Nigeria. International

Conference on “Sites of Memory in Africa,” Harvard University

4/2006 Producing Presence. The Art of Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria. Lectures

Series on “Yoruba Art, History and Politics.” Organized by Art History and

African tudies Emory University

4/2006 Heritage Epidemics. On Media, Memory, and Modernity in Osogbo, Nigeria.

Conference on “Configurations of Modernity,” Berlin, Humboldt University

1/2006 Contested Presence: Memory and Monument in Osogbo, Nigeria,

Northwestern University, Monday Night Lecture, African Studies Seminar

6/2005 Murmurs of Memory. Public Art and National Culture in Osogbo, Nigeria,

Panel: “Memory and the Public Sphere.” AEGIS Conference, London

6/2005 What Does Aesthetic Practice Mean? Panel: “Aesthetic Practice in Africa.”

AEGIS Conference, London

4/2005 Confronting the Gaze. Seeing Sex in Times of AIDS. International

Conference, “AIDS and the Moral Order,” Berlin.

2/2005 Picturing Osun. From History to Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria. Panel:

“Revisiting the Canon. African Art History Today.” College Arts

Association, Atlanta

11/2004 The Semantics of The New. International Conference: “Questioning the

New.” University of Bayreuth, Germany

10/2004 African Angst. Colloquium in Honour of Ute Luig, Free University of Berlin 6/2004

The Culture of Ritual. International Conference on “Ritual and Culture.”

University of Cologne

2/2004 The Day Jacob Lawrence Left Osogbo. An Untold Tale in the History of

Modern African Art. Lecture Series “African Modernity:” Linden Museum

Stuttgart

11/2003 Visual Spheres, Public Spheres, Visual Publics? Institute of Visual Studies,

University of Linz

10/2003 In Search of the Public Sphere. Department of Anthropology, University of

Basel

11/2002 Godly Monuments. Memory and Monument in Osogbo, Nigeria.

International Conference. The Audience of Images. Visual Publics in Africa

and Beyond, University of Bayreuth

11/2002 Learning from Debord in Osogbo. Art, Anarchy and Arrest in Nigeria.

Rautenstrauch Joest Museum in Cologne

9/2002 Godly Monuments. Memory, Media and Money in Osogbo, Nigeria. Panel:

Museums and Heritage, ASA Conference in Manchester,

7/2002 Osogbo Revisited. International Conference: A Passion of Images: Ulli Beier

and his Contribution to Yoruba Studies. Iwalewa-Haus. University of

Bayreuth

5/2002 Vital Politics. From History to Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria. Conference. “The

Vitality of the Local and the Localization of the Global.” University of

Bayreuth

9/2001 Dreamwork, Imagework, Artwork. The Case of Osogbo, Nigeria.

International Colloquium, 100 Years Sigmund Freud’s Traumdeutung. Bad

Homburg

7/2001 Imagination, Aesthetic Practice and the Global Art World. A Research Project.

Department of Anthropology. Free University Berlin.

4/2001 From World Picture to Picture World: A Note on the Prehistory of the Iconic

Turn. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Universität, Frankfurt, Germany

11/2000 Dancing AIDS. Morality, Politics and Performance in Malawi. University of

Leipzig

4/2000 Picture Dance. Reflections on Nyau Image and Experience Opening of the

Exhibition “Fabulous Beasts. Masked Portraits of Douglas Curran.” Iwalewa-

Haus, University of Bayreuth

10/1998 Imagination und Repräsentation. Variationen indigener Ethnographie in

Malawi. Conference: Afrikaner Schreiben Zurück. University of Cologne

9/1999 Ritual, Raum und Erinnerung. Organisation of Panel and Introductory Paper

Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV).

University of Heidelberg

6/1998 Auf der Suche nach dem Publikum. Prolegomena zu einer Anthropologie der

Öffentlichkeit im Subsaharischen Afrika. Ringvorlesung Kulturen des

Performativen. Free University Berlin

3/1999 Mischung und Moderne. University Seminar, Institute for African Studies,

University of Bayreuth.

9/1998 Afrikanische Modernen, Institute for African Studies, Humboldt University

Berlin

7/1998 The Modernity of Masking Traditions in Central Malawi. Department of Fine

11/1997 Die Moderne und das Böse. Symposium Afrika und die Moderne, Haus der

Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

and Performing Arts, Chancellor College, University of Zomba

4/1996 Malinowski’s Pendelschlag. Die Ausstellung Afrika: Die Kunst eines

Kontinents im Berliner Gropius Bau. Institute for African Studies, Humboldt

University Berlin

9/1995 Die Moral von Mchape. On Healing, Social Memory and the Enigma of the

Public Sphere in Post-Banda-Malawi Annual Conference, Association of

German Anthropology. Vienna, Austria

10/1994 Omais Erben: Polynesische Variationen über die Ästhetik des Lokalen im

Globalen. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. SMPK.

3/1993 Letter and the Spirit. Literacy and Religious Authority in the History of the

Aladura Movement in Western Nigeria. University Lecture Series. Free

University Berlin

10/1992 Über das Ethnologische Interesse am Traum. Anmerkungen zu einer

verlorenen Neugier. Annual Conference of the German Anthropological

Association. Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

4/1992 Kunst und Körper. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. SMPK

4/1992 Der Dekorierte Körper. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. SMPK

5/1991 Prophet Harris the Weberian Concept of Disenchantment. Afrikanistentag,

University of Mainz

6/1988 Medicine as a Political Category. The Case of the Wimbum in the Cameroon

Grassfields. Conference “Ethnomedical Systems in Sub-Sahara Africa.”

African Studies Center, Leiden, Netherlands

9/1987 Literacy and the Great Divide. A Pragmatic Reconceptualization. Annual

Conference of German Association of Sociology

12/1985 All the President’s Men. Local Politics and Social Change in Northwest-

Cameroon. Department of Anthropology. Bern, Switzerland.

10/1985 Who are the Tikar? Department of History. University of Yaounde, Cameroon

FIELDWORK

2021 – ongoing Berlin

2019 Venice & Rome, Italy

2010 Dresden, Germany

2000 – 2009 Osogbo, Nigeria

1993 – 1999 Lilongwe, Malawi

1984 – 1986 Ndu, Cameroon

1981 Yap, Micronesia

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Memberships

Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA)

African Studies Association (ASA)

College Arts Association (CAA)

European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)

American Anthropological Association (AAA)

Editorial Advisory Board

Critical Interventions. Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture (Routledge)

Past:

Art in Translation (Getty Foundation)

Journal of African History (Cambridge University Press)

Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (Reimer Verlag)

Evaluation Work

Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung

German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)

German Research Foundation (DFG)

Getty Foundation

Mellon Foundation

NEH

National Humanities Center, NC

University Presses in the U.S.

Ph.D. Committee Work & Tenure/Promotion Cases

Columbia University

Boston University

Emory University

Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Harvard University

Iowa State University

Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany

Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana

New York University

Princeton University

Stanford University

Universität Bayreuth, Germany

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Cruz

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina, Charlotte

University of Rochester

University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Yale University

Lehre im Sommersemester 2024

Einführung in das Studium der Globalen Künste Afrikas

Von Kolonial zu Dekolonial: Zur Geschichte Afrikanischer Kunstgeschichte

Fetisch, Fetischismus, Fetischisierung: Auch eine Kunstgeschichte

Kolloquium zur Kunst Afrikas

Books

Monographs

2022 What is African Art? A Short History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

2011 Osogbo and the Art of Heritage. Monuments, Deities, and Money

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press).

2005 Kalumbas Fest. Lokalität, Geschichte und Rituelle Praxis in Malawi (Berlin: Lit).

1992a Schrift, Staat und Symbolisches Kapital im Grasland von Kamerun (Berlin: Lit).

1992b Der Dekorierte Körper. Dimensionen der Tätowierung in der Südsee (Berlin: SMPK).

Edited and Co-Edited Volumes & Special Issues

2023 Art History and Anthropology – Modern Encounters, 1870 to 1970, co-edited with

Joseph Imorde (Los Angeles: Getty Publications).

2021 National Museums in Africa. History, Identity, Politics, co-edited with Georges Abungu

and Raymond Silverman (London & New York: Routledge).

2012 “Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage,” Special Issue of African Arts, Vol. 45, No. 3

2009 “Hybrid Heritage” co-edited with Ferdinand de Jong, Special Issue of African Arts, Vol.

42, No. 4.

2008 “Visual Publics,” Special Issue of Critical Interventions. Journal of African Art

History and Visual Culture. Vol 1, No. 2.

2004 Between Resistance and Expansion, co-edited with Gerd Spittler, (Berlin & Rochester:

Lit & Transaction Publishers).

2002 African Modernities. Entangled Meanings, Current Debate, co-edited with Jan Georg

Deutsch and Heike Schmidt (Oxford & New York: James Currey).

Articles and Book Chapters

2023a “Arbeit am Erbe. Das Humboldt Forum als Totale Institution.“ Lettre International, No.

142, pp. 29-33.

2023b “Die Ruine. Nachgedanken zum Berliner Humboldt Forum.“ Geschichte der Gegenwart,

https://geschichtedergegenwart.ch/die-ruine-nachgedanken-zum-berliner-humboldtforum/

2023c “Introduction,” in Art History and Anthropology – Modern Encounters, eds. Peter Probst

& Joseph Imorde, (Los Angeles: Getty Publications), pp 1-10.

2023d “Pathos and Paideuma. Aby Warburg, Leo Frobenius and the Demons of

Culture,” in Art History and Anthropology – Modern Encounters, eds. Peter Probst &

Joseph Imorde, (Los Angeles: Getty Publications), pp 146-172.

2022 “Fragments: Jacob Lawrence and the Osogbo Episode,” in Black Orpheus:

Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, eds. Kimberli Gant & Ndubuisi Ezeluomba,

(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), pp. 153-160.

2021a “Introduction,” in National Museum in Africa. History, Identity, Politics, eds. Ray

Silverman, Peter Probst and George Abungu (eds.), (London & New York:

Routledge), pp. 1-17.

2021b “Coda – A Conversation with Peter Probst and George Abungu,” in National

Museum in Africa. History, Identity, Politics, eds. Ray Silverman, Peter Probst and

George Abungu, (London & New York: Routledge), pp. 244-254.

2021c “From Wakanda to Benin: Some Thoughts on Restoration, National Museums, and

Architectural Design,” in Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide, eds. Phllipp Meuser

and Adil Dalbai (Berlin: DOM Publishers), pp. 190-192 (reprint)

2020a “Passions and Pathogens: Notes on the Uncertainty of Heritage,” Hau. Journal of

Ethnographic Theory, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 967-710

2020b “From Wakanda to Benin: Some Thoughts on Restoration, National Museums, and

Architectural Design,” in Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide, eds. Phllipp Meuser

and Adil Dalbai (Berlin: DOM Publishers), pp. 108-109

2018 “Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage,” in A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage, eds.

Sheila Watson, Amy Jane Barnes, Katy Bunning (New York: Routledge), 332-329 (reprint

2012)

2017 “The Gift of Heritage. Making “Eco” Economical in Nigeria,” in Decolonial

Heritage Natures, Cultures, and the Asymmetries of Memory, eds. Annibal Arregui, Gesa

Mackenthun & Stephanie Wodianka (Münster: Waxman), pp. 151-174

2016a “Prickly Prestations. Living with (World)Heritage in Nigeria.” World Heritage on

the Ground, eds. Christoph Brumann & David Berliner (Oxford: Berghahn), pp.

248-272

2016b “Über Kreuz: Leo Frobenius als Gegenspieler von Aby Warburg” Kulturkreise:

Leo Frobenius und seine Zeitgenossen. eds. Jean-Louis Georget, Hélène

Ivanoff und Richard Kuba (Berlin: Reimer Verlag), pp. 25-43

2016c “Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, ed.

Stephen Ross, rem.routledge.com

2016d “Susanne Wenger,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, ed. Stephen Ross,

rem.routledge,com

2015a “Afrikanische Moderne im Zeichen der Dekolonisierung: Anyanwu von Ben

Enwonwu.” In Kanon Kunstgeschichte, eds. Martin Schulz & Kirstin Marek,

(München und Paderborn: Fink), pp. 400-418

2015b “Celebrating Indigeneity in the Shadow of Heritage. Another Version of the Osun

Festival,” in African Indigenous Religions in Local and Global Contexts. Festschrift in

Honor of Jacob Olupona., ed. David Ogungbile, (Ibadan: Malthouse Press), pp. 245-354.

2014a “Sublime Images. Masked Performances and the Aesthetics of Belonging in

Malawi.” in Masquerade. Essays on Tradition and Innovation Worldwide, ed. Deborah

Bell, (Jefferson: McFarland), pp. 84-90.

2014b “Remixing Heritage. How the Grove of a Nigerian River Deity became a UNESCO World

Heritage Site.” World Heritage and National Registers in Perspective, eds. Thomas

Gensheimer & Celeste Guichard (Rochester: Transaction Publishers), pp. 33-45.

2013a “Preserving Heritage and the Values of Exchange. Lessons from Nigeria,”

History Compass. Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 1035-1046.

2013b “Chris Marker’s Even Statues Die. An Introduction,” Art in Translation, Vol. 6, p.

429.

2013c “Bedürfnis zur Beachtung: Ikonoklasmus, afrikanisches Kulturerbe und

Bildökonomie,” Paideuma. Vol. 59, pp. 31-49.

2013d “Determining Value and the Politics of Presence,” African Arts, Vol. 46/2, p. 11

2013e “New Media for Old Deities. Creating and Disputing Iconic Objects at a Nigerian World

Heritage Site.” The Challenge of the Object, eds. Georg Ulrich Großmann & Petra

Krutisch, (Nuremberg: Verlag des Germanischen Nationalmuseums), pp. 458-459.

2013f “From Iconoclasm to Heritage. The Osogbo Art School and the Dynamics of

Modernism in Nigeria,” A Companion to Modern African Art. A Reader, eds.

Monica Visona & Gitti Salami, (Malden, MA: Wiley & Blackwell), pp. 294-310.

2012a “Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage,” African Arts, Vol. 45/3, pp. 10-13.

2012b “Lagos – Oshodi. Inspecting an Urban Icon.” Afropolis, ed. Kerstin Pinter et al.

Köln: Walter König (English translation from 2010 catalogue), pp. 138-143.

2011 “Revisiting Osogbo – Religion, Media, and Control in a Nigerian Heritage

Site,” Critical Interventions. Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, Vol. 7,

pp. 65-83.

2010a “Roundtable Contemporary African Art History and the Scholarship,” NKA.

Journal of Contemporary African Art. No. 24, pp. 80-151.

2010b “Troubled Waters. On Ownership and Otherness,” African Arts, Vol. 43/2, pp. 7- 9.

2010c “Die Stimmung von Osogbo. Kulturerbe als Politik von Präsenz.” Spiegel und

Prisma. Festschrift für Ute Luig, eds. Dorothea Schulz & Jochen Seebode,

Berlin: Argument Verlag, pp. 252-266.

2010d “Lagos-Oshodi. Zur Inspektion einer Urbanen Ikone.“ Afropolis, ed. Kerstin Pinter et al.

(Köln: Walter König), pp. 138-143.

2009a “Yoruba Heritage as Project, Reauthenticating the Osun Grove in Osogbo,

Nigeria,” African Arts, Vol. 42/4, pp. 24-37.

2009b “Modernism against Modernity. A Tribute to Susanne Wenger,” Critical

Interventions, Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, No.3/4, pp.

245-255.

2009c “Mixed Media,” Journal of Material Religion, Vol. 5/2, pp. 229-230.

2008a “A Matter of Mimicry: Visual Publics.” Critical Interventions, Journal of African Art

History and Visual Culture, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 2-7.

2008b “The Modernity of Heritage.” Figurations of Modernity. Global and Local

Representations in Comparative Perspectives, eds. Vincent Houben & Mona

Schrempf, (Frankfurt: Campus), pp. 155-178.

2007a “An African Journey. Cultural Heritage and the Popularity of Primitivism.” RES,

Journal of Anthropology and Comparative Aesthetics, Vol. 52, pp. 153-161

2007b “Picturing the Past. Heritage, Photography, and the Politics of Appearance in

a Yoruba Town,” Reclaiming Heritage. Alternative Imaginaries of Memory, eds.

Michael Rowlands & Frederick de Jong, (Walnut Creek, CA: LeftCoast Press),

pp. 99-12

2007c “Betwixt and Between. African Studies in Germany.” The Study of Africa. Vol. II,

ed. Paul Zeleza, Dakar & Michigan: (Dakar: Codesria & University of Michigan

Press), pp. 157-297.

2006 “Weltkulturerbe als Exportschlager.” Lettre International, No. 74, pp. 124-125

2005a “Between and Betwixt. African Studies in Germany.” Africa Spectrum, Vol. 30,

No. 3: 403-427.

2005b “Medien, Grenzen, Öffentlichkeit. Für ein relationales Verständnis des

Lokalen.” Globalisierung und Lokales Handeln, eds. R. Loimeier et al. (Münster: Lit

Verlag), pp. 175-208

2005c “Zeitgenössische Kunst in Afrika.” Brockhaus. Kunst der Welt. (Mannheim:

VBI), pp. 542-559

2004a “Keeping the Goddess Alive: Performing Culture and Remembering the Past in

Osogbo, Nigeria.” Social Analysis, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 32-54

2004b “From an Anthropology of Astonishment to a Critique of Anthropology's

Common Sense” (together with Gerd Spittler), in Between Resistance and

Expansion. Explorations of Local Vitality in Africa, eds. P. Probst & G. Spittler,

(Münster & Rochester: Lit & Transaction Publishers) pp. 1-24

2004c “Vital Politics. History and Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria.” Between Resistance

and Expansion. Explorations of Local Vitality in Africa, eds. P. Probst & G.

Spittler, (Münster & Rochester: Lit & Transaction Publishers), pp. 279-

298

2004d “Schrecken und Staunen. Nyau Masken der Chewa im Kontext der Konjunktur des

Okkulten und der Medialisierung des Schreckens,” Africa Screams. Das Böse in Kino,

Kunst und Kult, ed. Tobias Wendl, (Wuppertal: Peter Hammer), pp. 115-125

2003 “Differenz und Schaulust. Zur Sexualisierung des Sehens bei Twins Seven

Seven, Rotimi Fani Kayodé und Yinka Shonibare.” Sexualität und Tod.

Afrikanische Kunst und AIDS, ed. K. Schaefer( Köln: Kunst Verlag), pp. 26-38

2002a “Expansion and Enclosure. Ritual Landscapes and the Politics of Space in

Central Malawi.” Journal of Southern African Studies Vol. 28, pp. 178-196

2002b “Kalumbas Tänzer und Malandas Zorn. Polyzentrische Öffentlichkeit und die

Kraft des Performativen in Zentralmalawi.” Paideuma. Vol. 48: 135-143

2002c “Entangled Meanings, Cherished Visions.” African Modernities. Entangled

Meanings and Current Debate, eds. G. Deutsch, P. Probst & H.

Schmidt, (Oxford & New York: J. Currey & Heinemann), pp. 1-17

2002d “Osogbo oder das Wunder der Wandlung“Afrikanische Reklamekunst. Wuppertal, ed.

Tobias Wendl, (Wuppertal: Peter Hammer), pp. 83-93

2001a “Traumwerk, Bildwerk, Kunstwerk: Visualität und ästhetische Praxis in

Osogbo, Nigeria,” 100 Jahre Traumforschung: Kulturwissenschaftliche

Perspektiven, ed. B. Schnepel, (Köln: Köppe Verlag), pp. 178-197

2001b “Bild als Weltbild. Zentrale Verschiebungen in einem marginalen Thema.” In: H.

Behrend (Hrsg.) Geist, Bild, Narr. Zu einer Ethnologie der Konversionen.

Festschrift für Fritz Kramer, ed. Heike Behrend, (Berlin: Philo), pp. 207-223.

2001c “Krankheit und Heilung.” Afrikalexikon, ed. E. Maabe (Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag, pp. 617-

619.

2001d “Traum.” Afrikalexikon, ed. E. Maabe, (Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag), p. 647.

2001e “Siegfried Nadel. Foundations of Social Anthropology.” Hauptwerke der

Ethnologie, eds. C. Feest & K.H. Kohl, (Stuttgart: Kröner), pp. 337-341

2000a “Picture Dance. Reflections on Nyau Image and Experience.” Iwalewa Forum,

Vol. 3/1, pp.17-32

2000b “Mischung und Moderne.” Wörterbuch der Ethnologie, ed. B Streck, (Wuppertal:

Peter Hammer), pp. 156-160

1999a “Mchape 95 or the Sudden Fame of Billy Goodson Chisupe: On Healing, Social

Memory and the Enigma of the Public Sphere in Post-Banda-Malawi.” Africa,

Vol. 69/1, pp. 108-137

1999b “Körperbild und Körperkultur.” Ohne Körper Geht Nichts. Ein Theorie-Praxis

Hand Buch für Theater und Pädagogik, eds, G. Koch et al, (Berlin &

Mielow: Schibri), pp.90-102

1999c “Von der Somatischen Wende zum Ästhetischen Aufbruch: Neues von der

Körperfront.” Ohne Körper geht Nichts. Ein Theorie-Praxis Hand Buch für

Theater und Pädagogik, eds, G. Koch et al (Berlin & Mielow: Schibri), pp. 51-61

1998a “Auf der Suche nach dem Publikum. Prolegomena zu einer Anthropologie der

Öffentlichkeit im Subsaharischen Afrika.” Paragrana. Vol. 7, pp. 291-305

1998b “Imagination und Repräsentation: Variationen indigener Ethnographie in

Malawi.” Afrikaner Schreiben Zurück, eds. H. Behrend & T. Geider, (Köln:

Köppe), pp. 81-103

1997 “Danser le Sida: Nyau Performances et Chewa Culture Populaire dans le Centre

du Malawi,” Les Arts de la Rue dans les Sociétés du Sud, eds. A. Ricard & M.

Agier, Autrepart (Cahiers des Sciences Humaines, Nouvelle Série); Vol. 1/1, pp.

91-112

1996a “Arbeit am Körper.” Anthropos, Vol. 91/1, pp. 225-229

1996b “Malinowskis Pendelschlag.” Historische Anthropologie, Vol 4/1, pp. 471-475

1995a “Die Moral von Mchape: Erinnerung, Kult und Krise in Malawi.” Das Große Sterben.

Seuchen machen Geschichte, ed. Hans Wilderotter, (Berlin: Jovis), pp. 234-249.

1995b “Moral Discourses and Ritual Authority in Central Malawi.” Sozialanthropologische

Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 66, Berlin: Das Arabische Buch, pp. 1-16.

1994 “Omais Erben: Polynesische Variationen über die Ästhetik des Lokalen im

Globalen.” Historische Anthropologie, Vol. 2/1, pp. 87-106.

1993a “Über das ethnologische Interesse am Traum. Anmerkungen zu einer

verlorenen Neugier. ” Anthropos, Vol. 88/1, pp. 153-162.

1993b “The Letter and the Spirit.” Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy, ed. Brian

Street, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, pp. 198-220.

1993c “Im Zeichen der Körper: Tradition und Politik im gegenwärtigen Polynesien.” Von

Kokos zu Plastik. Kulturen der Südsee im Wandel, ed, Markus Schindlbeck,

(Berlin: SMPK), pp. 49-66.

1993d “Kunst und Körper. Tatauierung in der Südsee.“ Museums Journal SMPK, Vol.

7/1, pp. 31-34.

1992 “Die Macht der Schrift. Zum ethnologischen Diskurs über eine populäre

Denkfigur. ” Anthropos, Vol. 87, pp. 167-179.

1991 “Comment on Crane’s "Composing Culture" Current Anthropology, Vol. 32, pp.

307-308

1990a “Schrift, Schriftlichkeit, Verschriftlichung. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven eines

ethnologischen Forschungsfeldes. ” Kodikas/Code, Vol. 13, pp. 21-39.

1990b “Patterns of Control. On Medicine, Politics and Social Change among the

Wimbum, Cameroon Grassfields. ” Anthropos, Vol. 85, pp. 447-454.

1989 “The Letter and the Spirit. Literacy and Religious Authority in the History of the

Aladura Movement in Western Nigeria. ” Africa, 59/4, pp. 477-495.

1988a “Beobachtung und Methode. Johann Stanislaus Kubary als Reisender und

Ethnograph im Spiegel seiner Briefe an Adolph Bastian.” Baessler Archiv, Vol.

3, pp. 23-56.

1988b “Medicine as a Political Category. The Case of the Wimbum in the Cameroon

Grassfields.” Ethnomedical Systems in Sub-Sahara Africa, ed. P. Nkwi

(Leiden: African Studies Center), pp. 219-231.

1987 “Randbemerkungen und empirische Notizen zum Thema Verschriftlichung.”

Technik und Sozialer Wandel, Beiträge zum 23. Deutschen Soziologentag, ed. J.

J. Friedrichs, (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag), pp. 33-37.

1987 “The Letter and The Spirit. Literacy and Religious Authority in the History of the

Aladura Movement.” Sozialanthropologische Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 4, Berlin: Das

Arabische Buch , pp. 1-18.

1984 “Herrschaft und Fremdherrschaft.” Bikini oder die Bombardierung der Engel, ed.

F. Kramer et al. Frankfurt a.M: Syndikat, pp. 29-45.

Reviews

2010 “Sidney Kasfir, African Art and the Colonial Encounter. Bloomington University of

Indiana Press.” Journal of African History, Vol. 51/1, pp. 104-105.

2008 “Arnd Schneider & Chris Wright (eds.) Contemporary Art and Anthropology.

London/New York: Berg.” Anthropos Vol. 103, pp. 287-288.

2007 “African Comics. An Exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem.” African Arts, Vol. 40,

pp. 88-89.

2005 „K.H. Kohl. Die Macht der Dinge. Geschichte und Theorie Sakraler Objekte.“ München:

CH Beck.“ Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. Vol. 71, pp. 291-293.

2004a “F. Ginsburg, L. Abu Lughod, & Larkin, B.( eds.) Media Worlds.” Anthropos, Vol. 98, pp.

342-342.

2004b “Setha M. Low, & Denise Lawrence-Zuniga (eds.) Anthropology of Space and Place:

Locating Culture.” Anthropos Vol. 98, pp. 356-357.

2002 “Marc Felix and Michel Jordan. Mask Characters of the Upper Zambezi. Anthropos, Vol.

97, pp. 574-575.

2001 “John & Jean Comaroff (eds.), Civil Society and the Political Imagination of Africa,”

Anthropos, Vol.96, pp. 457-458.

2000a “Johannes Fabian. Moments of Freedom. Anthropology and Popular Culture.”

Anthropos Vol. 95, pp. 257-258.

2000b “Zoe S. Strother, Inventing the Mask. Agency and History in the Art of the Central

Pende.” Anthropos, Vol. 95, 645-646.

1999 “John Weintraub &. K. Kumar (eds). Public and Private. “Anthropos, Vol. 94, pp. 640-

641.

1998a “Laurel Birch de Aguilar, Inscribing the Mask. Interpretation of Nyau Masks and Ritual

Performance among the Chewa in Central Malawi.” Anthropos, Vol. 93, pp. 233-235.

1998 “David Parkin, L. Caplan & H. Fisher (eds.) The Politics of Cultural Performance.”

Anthropos, Vol. 93, pp. 267-268

1994a “Brian Turner, Regulating Bodies.” Anthropos, Vol. 89/2, p. 631.

1994b “Margaret Lock and Shirle. Lindenbaum (eds.) Knowledge, Power and Practice.”

Anthropos, Vol. 89/2, p. 632.

1993a “D.B. Gewertz and F.K. Errington. Twisted Histories and Altered Contexts: Representing

the Chambri in a World System.” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Vol.118, pp. 129-130.

1993b “M.C. Jedrei & R. Shaw. 1992. Dreaming, Religion and Society in Africa.” Anthropos,

Vol. 88/2 , pp. 291-293.

1992 “R. Dillon 199O. Ranking and Resistance: A precolonial Cameroonian Polity in Regional

practice.” Africa, Vol. 88, p. 195 (review)

1991a “Mark W. Delancey. Cameroon - Dependence and Independence In: Africa, Vol. 61 /2,

p. 312.

1991b “Peter Geschiere and P. Konings (eds.) On the Political Economy of Cameroon.

Historical Perspectives.“ Africa, Vol. 61/2, p. 194

1991c Schrift, Kultur, Schriftkultur. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven eines ethnologischen

Forschungsfeldes. Sozialanthropologische Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 35, Berlin: Das

Arabische Buch , pp. 1-15.

1989a “Alexander Henn. Reisen in Vergangene Gegenwart. Geschichte und Geschichtlichkeit

der Nichteuropäer im Denken des 19. Jahrhunderts.“ Mundus, Vol. 25/2, pp. 116-

117.

1989b “Christoph Marx, Völker ohne Schrift und Geschichte. Zur Historischen Erfassung des

vorkolonialen Schwarzafrikas in der deutschen Forschung des 19. und frühen 20.

Jahrhunderts.“ Mundus. Vol. 25/3, pp. 202-203

1989c “Christraud Geary, Images from Bamum. German Colonial Photography at the Court of

King Nyoja, Cameroon, Westafrica, 1902-1915.“ Tribus, Vol. 38, pp. 174-175.

Working Papers, Interviews, Reports, etc.

2003a “Interview with Michael Lambek, NAB Newsletter of African Studies at Bayreuth

University, Vol. 2/2, pp. 6-9.

2003b ”Interview with Ulf Hannerz. NAB Newsletter of African Studies at Bayreuth University,

Vol. 2/1, pp. 6-9.

2002a “Interview with Frederick Cooper. “NAB Newsletter of African Studies at Bayreuth

University, Vol. 1/2, pp. 6-9.

2002b “Interview with Jean and John Comaroff.” NAB Newsletter of African Studies at

Bayreuth University, Vol. 1/1, pp. 4-7.

1998 “Afrikanische Moderne(n) – Bericht über eine Veranstaltungsreihe an der Humboldt-

Universität", Humboldt-Spektrum, Bd. 5/4, pp. 24-29