Recollecting Lorenz Löffler: Multivocal Approaches to an Ethnographic Legacy

"That I could write and was constantly making notes for myself they simply excused with the explanation that my memory was poorer than theirs."

(Lorenz Löffler 1986)

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Ethnological Seminar of the University of Zurich, we dedicate an exhibition to the first chair holder, Lorenz Löffler. His former students and staff are still connected to the dedicated professor today. But how should he be remembered as an ethnologist? We think: first and foremost through his research among the swidden cultivation societies of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far east of Bangladesh. Throughout his life he remained deeply attached to these farming societies.

Under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, we shared Lorenz Löffler's tape recordings with representatives of ethnic groups in Bangladesh. In Zoom conversations we began the joint reappraisal of these unique documents.