Re-Contextualising an Ethnographic Collection. Student Collaboration Bangladesh–Zurich

The transnational student team is young; the collection they engage with was compiled long before they were born. Both students and objects have been travelling between Bangladesh and Zurich.

For two semesters, a group of BA students studying Social Anthropology at the University of Zurich and indigenous students from Bangladesh have been collaboratively researching and reflecting on ethnographic archives. The project centres on the collections – objects, sounds, and photos – of Lorenz Löffler, who did field research in the conflict-ridden Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh) in the 1950s. (How) do the historical objects relate to today’s contexts? Does the ethnographic collection hold any potential for peace building? What have been the challenges of the collaboration?

The project ties in with the exhibition  "Recollecting Lorenz Löffler" (2021–2022). A small installation offers first glimpses of the ongoing collaboration.