Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie

I am Junior Professor of Social Anthropology of Cultural Expressions at the Institute for European Ethnology with a joint affiliation at the Centre for Cultural Techniques (ZfK). My research focuses on cultural expressions through the study of material and visual culture, as well as museum anthropology and critical heritage studies.

I have conducted extensive anthropological fieldwork, archival research, and museum ethnography in Romania and the UK, with additional ethnographic projects in Italy and Poland. Building on an ethnographic study in Italy, I am currently developing a research agenda on heritage and waterscapes, in particular in terms of the intersections of social and environmental justice in Mediterranean coastal wetlands. Simultaneously, I am advancing approaches in interdisciplinary trace studies as well as collection ethnography that critically mobilise (inter)imperial perspectives.

As a member of the Amo Collective Berlin, I work on developing research-based, collaborative artistic and curatorial formats of decolonial scholarly and urban practice. Before my academic career, I worked in applied anthropology within both the private sector and museums. I am especially interested in exploring new approaches to ethnographic writing and exhibition making.

In addition to my HU work, I am a member of the DFG Public Anthropology Network, and I serve as Chair of the TRACTS Cost Action on Traces as Research Agenda for Climate Change, Technology Studies and Social Justice. As part of this network, I co-authored "Practising Collection Ethics: A Toolkit for Museum and Archive Professionals", and am co-editing two forthcoming volumes: "Unearthing Collections: Archives, Time and Ethics" (UCL Press) and "Counter-Cartographies of Trace" (De Gruyter).

I collaborate across academic and curatorial practices, working with a variety of institutions in both research and teaching, including the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin, the German Hygiene Museum (DHMD), the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, and the Weltmuseum in Vienna.

My past co-curated exhibitions include:

• “If you take care of birds, you take care of most of the environmental problems in the world”, special exhibition in collaboration with Gabriele Pinna (LIPU) as part of Muddy Measures at Tieranatomisches Theatre, Berlin

• Learning City: A Self-Portrait at Coexist Gallery, Hamilton House in Bristol brought together contributions from a range of partners such as Barton Hill Settlement, Countering Colston, Dhek Bhal, Easton Community Centre, Bristol Bike Project, Coexist Community Kitchen, Refugee Women of Bristol, St Mungo's, Workers' Educational Association and Wild Walks for Wellbeing as well as artists Eleanor Shipman, Joff Winterhart and Biggerhouse Film

• Forging Folklore, Disrupting Archives at Constance Howard Gallery in London worked to remediate textile collections through critical art interventions

I am also passionate about disability justice and play an active role in the IfEE Collective Access AG group.

I joined the HU as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow in 2019, following a postdoctoral project on learning cities at the University of Bristol. My academic background includes training in anthropology (Goldsmiths College) and critical heritage studies (UCL), and I have taught at institutions including Goldsmiths, the Bristol Doctoral School, and Imperial College London.

Research areas

• material and visual culture
• critical heritage studies
• collection research and curating
• museum ethnography
• memory, heritage politics and activism
• making, craft, knowledge production
• trace as epistemological, ethical and methodological challenge
• informal learning, affect and care

Office hours

During the term, supervisions are held online via Zoom on Fridays. To book, email me with 3 available time slots. Please indicate whether you need a short slot (5 min — signatures and quick enquiries) or a standard slot (20 min — BA/MA supervision and 40min - PhD).

Teaching

Im Sommersemester 2026 biete ich folgende Lehrveranstaltungen an: das MA-Seminar Multimodal Ethnography sowie das BA-Seminar Sensory Ethnography.

Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the fields highlighted above. For enquiries, please email a research outline to magdalena.buchczyk@hu-berlin.de

CARMAH Lab

I am co-convening the museum, archive and heritage research area in collaboration with Dr. Jonas Tinius at the Berlin-Brandenburg Office for Everyday Culture. The new lab, drawing on the legacy of the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage, the lab brings together researchers, students, practitioners, and activists from across the university and beyond. It offers a space to develop ideas, concepts, and projects in a critical, supportive, and careful way — spanning critique and practice, and connecting faculty, research, teaching, curation, and public anthropology.

The lab sees itself as a bridge between public heritage and museum practices on one side, and anthropological research at universities on the other.

To propose an activity, conversation, or work-in-progress presentation, please contact me or Jonas.