Catarina Madruga (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin), Archival collections and specimens from German “Kamerun" in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Working Groups
The Consortium invites scholars to join our topical working groups for challenging and collegial discussion of interesting publications in their fields and of each others’ works-in-progress.
Each group meets monthly. All interested scholars are welcome to participate via online video conferencing.
To join a group:
- Log in, or create an account
- Click on a group below
- Click on the "Request Membership" link
Upcoming Meetings
Please set your timezone.
Thursday, May 29, 2025, 8:00 - 9:30 am EDT
Grant Writing Master Class
Topics: Think big questions and frame them well; crafting your grant; personal experience.
Speakers: Gerardo Ienna is postdoctoral researcher at the University of Verona, Italy, and a Marie Curie global fellow (Grant Number 101026146). Simone Turchetti is Professor in history of science and technology at the Manchester University, UK, and PI of the ERC research project “Neworldata”.
Thursday, May 29, 2025, 9:45 - 10:15 am EDT
Concluding Reflections & Outlook
Topics: What was good and what could be changed; take-homes; networking opportunities.
Discussants: everyone, please join us one last time!
Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
Dario di Rosa (University of the South Pacific) "Melanesia: A Semantic History"
The name ‘Melanesia’ looms large in the mythistory of anthropology as the site where the ethnographic method took its modern form, as well as the locus for many important theoretical concepts (gift exchange, big-men, cargo cults, dividuals, etc.). While all students of anthropology are exposed to ‘Melanesia’ in their studies, most specialists of the region are quick to add caveats to its definition.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 9:30 - 11:00 am EDT
Jean-Philippe Martinez - "The Fock-Infeld Dispute: An Illustration of the Renaissance of General Relativity in the Soviet Union"
Guest Expert: Jean-Philippe Martinez
Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
On the Multivalent Nature of Colors ... Or ... What can Prussian blue tell us about color in the world?
Thursday, June 12, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Tiago Silva Alves Muniz (Universidade Federal de Goiás): The Struggle for Natural Rubber Species: Local Processes and Global Stories Moved (Around) the World
Thursday, June 12, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
Dominik Hünniger (German Port Museum Hamburg)
&
Anita Guerrini (Horning Professor in the Humanities Emerita at Oregon State University)
Title: Collection Ecologies Endeavour Special Issue Work-in-Progress Sesssion
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
Charlotte Ribeyrol (Sorbonne Université and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) on 'the Colourful Literary Imagination of the Victorian architect William Burges (1827-1881)'
Charlotte Ribeyrol is Professor of 19th-century British literature at the Sorbonne, Honorary Curator at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and head of the CHROMOTOPE project.
Organizer: Elizabeth Savage
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Tuli Mekondjo (Windhoek): Oimbodi Yedu: Herbs of the Soil
Thursday, August 14, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Banji Chona (Lusaka): Weeds to Who? An Ecological Reimagining of Zambezian Plants
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Romuald Tchibozo (Université d'Abomey-Calavi): Plants in Contemporary Art: The Case of Meschac Gaba in Benin
Thursday, October 9, 2025, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT
Edwin Coomasaru (London): Plantation Ecologies in Sri Lankan Art: Gender, Sexuality and Environmental Aesthetics