Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie

Unearthing Collections is a new volume co-edited by Magdalena Buchczyk (IfEE), Martín Fonck, Tomás Usón, and Tina Palaić, and published by UCL Press

The book is available in full Open Access

Unearthing Collections invites readers to rethink the ethics of collections and archives through the lens of time. From community protests over glacial sampling to ethical dilemmas around human remains and political art, the authors explore the challenges of collecting, displaying, and preserving traces.

The book centers on the concept of 'unearthing'- revealing hidden truths, uncovering layers of history, and bringing the unknown to light. It considers how the pursuit of knowledge often comes at a cost, including displacement, exploitation, commodification, and the enduring
legacies of imperialism and colonialism.

Alongside critiquing the extractive practices that shaped many collections and archives, the book introduces 're-earthing' - a practice that reshapes how we understand and engage with traces of the past. As a critical approach, re-earthing recognizes the messy, entangled nature of these traces and resists attempts to control or sanitize them, allowing them to evolve into new forms of knowledge. This perspective encourages scholars, archivists, artists, and collection practitioners to rethink time and trace, challenge dominant chronologies, and develop more ethical ways of working with collections and archives.
 
The book is accompanied by the Practising Collection Ethics Toolkit—a practical resource designed to support museum and archive professionals in navigating ethical challenges associated with managing collections.

These publications are based upon work from TRACTS COST Action, supported by COST Association - European Cooperation in Science and Technology.