Teaching

The courses offered by the Ethnographic Museum are a part of the ethnological teaching at the University of Zurich and thus a part of the teaching of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. We maintain a style of teaching in close relation to the collections, archives, and research, which allows students to learn about the museum and its fields of interest hands-on.

The courses offered mirror the research areas of the research assistants of the museum and is, accordingly, constantly developing. Thereby a task of the museum is to cover the required core areas of the ethnological teaching in Zurich including material culture, practical knowledge, ergology and technology.

As a research and teaching museum at the University of Zurich it is especially important to us that the cultural heritage gathered here for research be stored responsibly, that the proper handling of the heritage be imparted to students, and that it is made accessible to students according to the current standards of conservation. We conduct research teaching and learning. Hereby the museum profits from the on-site restorers who incorporate the practical knowledge and technical expertise of foreign cultures and thus bring research close to the materials and science at hand.

A special concentration on the research of practical knowledge in cultures, with a focus on expertise, tradition of knowledge and the confrontation of slowly depreciating knowledge in modern times has led to a unique constellation for the teaching at the Ethnographic Museum.