Prof. Dr. Peter Probst (Gastprofessor)
Kunsthistorisches Institut
Abteilung Kunst Afrikas
Vertretung der Professur für Kunst und Visuelle Kulturen Afrikas im Sommersemester 2024
I work at the intersection of art history, anthropology, and museum studies with a particular focus on the arts of Global Africa. The topics of my books range from the debate on African modernities (2002) and the study of landscape, locality, and belonging in Malawi (2006) to the political aesthetics of heritage and the dynamics of modernism in Nigeria (2011). My most recent books are informed by the decolonial turn in the humanities and social sciences. "National Museums in Africa" came out in 2021 with Routledge. Co-edited with Ray Silverman and George Abungu, the volume explores the role and history of African national museums in the context of the current debates on restitution and decolonization. "What is African art? A Short History" came out in 2022 with The University of Chicago Press. It discusses the making, remaking, and unmaking of African art as a field of study from its colonial beginnings in the late 19th century to the decolonial present. "Art History and Anthropology - Modern Encounters, 1870 and 1970," was published in Fall 2023 with Getty Publications. Co-edited with Joseph Imorde the volume interrogates the complex relationships of art history and anthropology during the entangled periods of modernism and colonialism. I am currently starting a new project on postmigrant dynamics and the inheritance of loss with a special focus on the history of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
2001. Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Anthropology, University of Bayreuth, Germany
1990. Ph.D. in Anthropology, Free University Berlin, Germany
1984. M.Phil. in Anthropology, University of Cambridge, England
1983. M.A. in Anthropology, Free University Berlin, Germany
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2011 – present Full Professor, Department of the History of Art and Architecture,
Secondary Appointment: Department of Anthropology, Tufts University
2012 – 2017 Chair, Department of Art History, Tufts University
2011 Full Professor, Department of Art History, Tufts University
2005 – 2010 Associate Professor, Department of Art History, Secondary Appointment:
Department of Anthropology, Tufts University
1999 – 2004 Associate Professor, Iwalewa-Haus, Center for African Art,
University of Bayreuth
2000 – 2001 Guest Professor, Frobenius Institute, Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe University, Frankfurt a.M.
1993 – 1998 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Free University,
Berlin
1994 – 1998 Research Associate, Institute of Social Research, Chancellor
College, University of Malawi, Zomba
1991 – 1993 Assistant Curator, Museum of Ethnology, Berlin (SMPK)
1985 – 1987 Research Associate, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research (MESRES), Yaoundé, Cameroon
GRANTS, AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
2023 Invitation for Senior Fellowship, Advanced Institute of Cultural Studies,
Vienna, declined
2022 – 2023 Tufts Tisch College, Faculty Fellowship
2022 Scholar in Residence, Tufts European Center, Talloires/France
2022 FRAC / Grant in Aid for Archival Research on Mauss’s Museum in France
and Switzerland
2021 Invitation for Guest Professorship at Free University Berlin, declined
2020 Scholar in Residence, Tufts European Center, Talloires/France (cancelled
due to Covid 19)
2017 Getty Senior Scholar Grant and Fellowship
2017 Faculty Research Grant for Archival Research in Ghana
2015 – 2016 Tufts Tisch College, Senior Fellowship
2015 Mellon / GAHTC Grant for “Histories of Heritage” together with
Michelle Apotsos (Williams College) and Brinker Ferguson (UCSC)
2015 Faculty Research Grant for Project on Aby Warburg and
Leo Frobenius
2014 Faculty Research Grant for Archival Research on Aby Warburg
2014 Arts Council of the African Studies Association, Arnold Rubin
Outstanding Book Award 2014, Honourable Mention for “Osogbo and
the Art of Heritage” (IUP 2011)
2012 Nigerian Studies book award for “Osogbo and the Art of
Heritage” (IUP 2011)
2011 – 2013 Tufts Collaborates Award “Media Aesthetics,” Principal Investigator
2010 Tufts Humanities Center, Faculty Fellowship
2010 Tufts Tisch College, Faculty Fellowship
2010 Faculty Research Grant for “The Canaletto View. Heritage Trouble in
Dresden”
2009 CELT Faculty Fellow, Tufts University
2008 Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies, (IFK), Vienna,
Austria
2007 Professorship (W2), University of Frankfurt a.M, offered but declined
2006 – 2007 Summer Research Grant / FRAC (“The Art of Heritage in Nigeria”),
Tufts University
2003 Conference Grant (“Local Vitality and the Globalization of the Local”)
African Studies Center, University of Bayreuth & German Research
Council (DFG)
2002 – 2005 Research Grant (“Kunstwelten in Interaktion”), German Research
Council (DFG)
2002 Conference Grant (“A Passion for Difference”), African Studies
Center, University of Bayreuth & German Research Council (DFG)
2000 – 2002 Research Grant (“Imagination, Ästhetische Praxis und Globale
Kunstwelt in Afrika”), German Research Council (DFG)
2000 Colloquium Grant (“Negotiating Modernity in Africa”), Johann
Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt
1999 Conference Grant (“Media, Mediality and Imagination.
Interdisciplinary Perspectives”), University of Bayreuth, Institute of
Africa n Studies
1998 Lecture Series (“African Modernities”), Thyssen Stiftung
1996 – 1998 Post-Doctoral Scholarship / Habilitation (“Nyau Maskenbünde in
Zentralmalawi”), German Research Council (DFG)
1987 – 1990 Doctoral Scholarship (“Text im Kontext: Schriftlichkeit im Grasland
von Kamerun), German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung)
1984 – 1986 Scholarship and Travel Grant, German Academic Exchange Program
(DAAD)
1984 Travel Grant, Girton College, Cambridge, England
EXHIBITIONS
2012 Global Flows. (co-curated Amy Schlegel and members of the Tufts Art History
Department. Tufts University Art Gallery
2006 Cross-Currents in Recent Video Installation: Water as a Metaphor for Identity
(co-curated with Pamella Alara and Amy Schlegel), Tufts University Art Gallery & Harn
Museum University of Florida, Gainesville
2003 Spuren des Heiligen. Fotografische Pigmentdrucke von Lukas Werth
Iwalewa Haus, University of Bayreuth
2000. Fabulous Beasts. Masked Portraits of Douglas Curran. Iwalewa Haus, University of
Bayreuth
1993 Von Kokos zu Plastik. Kulturen der Südsee im Wandel. (co-curated with Mattias
Schindlbeck), Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SMKP)
1992 Der Dekorierte Körper: Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SMKP)
LECTURES
5/2023 Keeping the Goddess Alive. Susanne Wenger and the Dynamics of Modernism in
Nigeria. Brown University, Haffenreffer Museum.
4/2023 Under Suspicion: The Case of Hans Himmelheber (1908-2003). Museum Rietberg,
Zuerich, Switzerland
12/2022 The Gift of Heritage: Generational Reciprocity and the Conflicts over Exchange, Tisch
College
10/2022 Experiences of Diversity. Von Berlin nach Boston und Zurück. Goethe Institute,
Boston (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)
5/2022 What do we talk about when we talk about African art and how do we write about
it? Rietberg, Museum Zürich, Switzerland
5/2022 Mauss’s Museum. Decolonization, Restitution and the Postmigrant Condition. Basel,
African Studies Center, Switzerland
5/2022 Mauss’s Museum. Decolonization, Restitution and the Postmigrant Condition. Tufts
European Center, Talloires, France.
5/2022 National Museums in Africa. Identity, History, Politics. Just Conversations Series.
Stellenbosch University Museum, South Africa
5/2021 What’s Left? African Art and Anthropology. ACASA Triennial, UCLA
4/2021 What do we talk about when we talk about African art and how do we write about
it? Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Freie Universität Berlin
42021 Fragments: Jacob Lawrence and the Osogbo Episode, Clark Institute, Williamstown,
MA
2/2020 Does Heritage Have a Form? Tufts University Gallery
12/2019 Collecting Africa. Museums, Foreign Actors and Local Contexts. ASA, Boston
6/2019 How to Write a History of the Contemporary? RUFA, Rome
9/2018 Coming to Terms with Heritage. Some Lessons from Research in Nigeria. Institute of
Visual Studies, University of Southern California
6/2018 The Uncanny Other. Aby Warburg, Leo Frobenius, and the Figuration of Fields.
Workshop. Regarding the Unknown. Early Encounters of Anthropology and Art
History. University of Siegen
6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Schule des
Sehens, University of Mainz
6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Iwalewa
Haus, University of Bayreuth
6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Institut für
Kunstgeschichte, LMU University of Munich
6/2018 Acknowledging the Contemporary: African Art Studies in the Short 1960s. Institut für
Kunstgeschichte, Free University of Berlin
7/2017 What is a National Museum in Africa? ACASA Conference, Accra, Ghana
5/2017 True Value. Keeping the World Together in the Study of (African) Art. Getty
Research Institute Center, Los Angeles
10/2016 Histories of Heritage. University of Washington
3/2016 The Study of Heritage in Urban Africa. Notes towards a Research Agenda.
Emory University
10/2015 Christos’s River. On Preservation and the Problem of the Gift. Roger Williams
University
4/2015 On Neighboring, Tisch College, Tufts University
9/2014 Rags over the River. Reflections on the Global Cult of Heritage. Graduiertenkolleg
Kulturkontakt und Wissenschaftsdiskurs. University of Rostock
6/2014 Der Unheimliche Andere. Warburg und Frobenius. Institut für Kunstgeschichte, FU
Berlin
2/2014 Über Kreuz: Aby Warburgs Verhältnis zu Leo Frobenius. Frobenius Institut, Johann
Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt
11/2013 On Property, Values, and Exchange: Living with (World)Heritage in Nigeria. African
Studies Workshop, Harvard University
6/2013 Iconocrash. On Heritage, Property, and Exchange in Nigeria, African Studies
Institute, University of Cologne
7/2012 Bedürfnis zur Beachtung: Ikonoklasmus, afrikanisches Kulturerbe und Bildökonomie
(annual Frobenius lecture). Frobenius Institute, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University
of Frankfurt
7/2012 Osogbo and the Art of Heritage. Iwalewa Haus, University of Bayreuth
History. Boston University, Department of the History of Art and Architecture.
7/2012 New Media for Old Deities: Creating and Disputing Icons in a Nigerian World
Heritage Site. CIHA conference on “The Challenge of the Object.”
Nuremberg, Germany
3/2012 From Einstein to Enwezor. Why and How to Write a History of African Art
7/2011 Kultur als Erbe. Vom Sozialen Faktum zur Globalen Bewegung. Institut für
Ethnologie und Afrikawissenschaften, University of Mainz, Germany
6/2011 Das Bild als Gabe. Überlegungen zur Theorie des Kulturerbes. Institut für
Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, University of Vienna
6-2011 Aura and Effect. Introduction to Conference on the Media of Religion. Institute
für Cultural Studies, IFK, Vienna
6/2011 Aura and Effect. The Media of Religion. Conference organized for the
Institute of Cultural Studies, Vienna, Austria
6/2011 Susanne Wenger und der Osun Hain in Nigeria. Völkerkundemuseum,
Vienna
5/2011 The Politics of Presence. On Heritage, Media, and Religion. International
conference on “Materiality, Memory, and Cultural Heritage.” Technical
University, Istanbul, Turkey,
4/2011 Divine Distance. Media-Theoretical Reflections on Art and Religion. Tufts
Humanities Center
4/2011 Atlas versus the Cherry Tree: Museum, the Nation, and the World. Panel
Discussion, Weatherhead Center, Harvard University
3/2011 Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage. Arts Council of the African Studies
Association Conference, UCLA
3/2011 Kultur als Erbe. Vom Sozialen Faktum zur Globalen Bewegung. Institut für
Kulturwissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Germany
11/2010 World Heritage in the Parliament of Things. With Professor Latour on a Visit
to Dresden, Weatherhead Centre, Harvard University
11/2010 Strategies and Tactics – Again: Revisiting De Certeau in the Study of African
Visual Culture. ASA Conference, San Francisco
10/2010 Contemporary and Contemporaneity. Remarks on the Politics of Time.
Workshop on “Disputing the Global. Art History’s Future Symposium.“ Tufts
University
5/2010 Expanding the Empire of the Goddess. Religious Tourism and Processes of
Retraditionalization in Nigeria. International Conference on “Tourism and Word
Heritage,” University of Lawal, Quebec,
11/2009 Heritage as an Image Machine. Examples from Fieldwork in Africa. African
Studies Association Conference, Panel: The Heritage Industry
3/2009 The Value of Art – An African Perspective. Symposium on “The Value of Art.
The Place of Art in the University Today,” Tufts University
2/2009 Modernism Against Modernity. How The Grove of a Nigerian River Deity
became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sixth Savannah Symposium: World
Heritage and National Registers in Perspective. Savannah College of Art and
Design
11/2008 Das Dilemma des Zeitgenössischen. Oder Was Heißt Afrikanische
Kunstgeschichte Heute? Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Freie Universität Berlin
11/2008 Revisiting Osogbo. Images, Media and the Art of Mediation. Columbia
Seminar on African, American and Oceanic Arts, Columbia University, NY
6/2008 Osogbo oder die drei Weisen von Präsenz. Institut für Kulturwissenschaftliche
Forschung, Vienna, Austria
5/2008 Im Zeichen des Körpers. Überlegungungen zum Studium des Kulturerbes
als Normative Ordnung. Frobenius Institut, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
University, Frankfurt, Germany
12/2007 Expansion als Interaktion. Globale Kunstwelten Heute. Kunstuniversität Linz
4/2007 Picturing the Past. Photography, Memory and the Politics of Appearance in
Nigeria. Triannual ACASA Conference, University of Florida, Gainesville
1/2007 Cultural Heritage and the Popularity of Primitivism. Panel. “Time Loops. The
Revival of Primitivism”. College Arts Association, New York.
11/2006 Entangled Presence. The Art, Economics and Poetics of Heritage. ASA
Annual Conference, San Francisco
10/2006 Against Religion. Imagination, Style and the Politics of Appearance, Walter
Rodney Seminar Series, Boston University
5/2006 Heritage as Presence. St Cross Africa Lecture, Oxford University
5/2006 Money, Media, and Memory: Heritage Politics in Nigeria. International
Conference on “Religion and Media”. University of Amsterdam
4/2006 Contested Presence. Memory and Media in Nigeria. International
Conference on “Sites of Memory in Africa,” Harvard University
4/2006 Producing Presence. The Art of Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria. Lectures
Series on “Yoruba Art, History and Politics.” Organized by Art History and
African tudies Emory University
4/2006 Heritage Epidemics. On Media, Memory, and Modernity in Osogbo, Nigeria.
Conference on “Configurations of Modernity,” Berlin, Humboldt University
1/2006 Contested Presence: Memory and Monument in Osogbo, Nigeria,
Northwestern University, Monday Night Lecture, African Studies Seminar
6/2005 Murmurs of Memory. Public Art and National Culture in Osogbo, Nigeria,
Panel: “Memory and the Public Sphere.” AEGIS Conference, London
6/2005 What Does Aesthetic Practice Mean? Panel: “Aesthetic Practice in Africa.”
AEGIS Conference, London
4/2005 Confronting the Gaze. Seeing Sex in Times of AIDS. International
Conference, “AIDS and the Moral Order,” Berlin.
2/2005 Picturing Osun. From History to Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria. Panel:
“Revisiting the Canon. African Art History Today.” College Arts
Association, Atlanta
11/2004 The Semantics of The New. International Conference: “Questioning the
New.” University of Bayreuth, Germany
10/2004 African Angst. Colloquium in Honour of Ute Luig, Free University of Berlin 6/2004
The Culture of Ritual. International Conference on “Ritual and Culture.”
University of Cologne
2/2004 The Day Jacob Lawrence Left Osogbo. An Untold Tale in the History of
Modern African Art. Lecture Series “African Modernity:” Linden Museum
Stuttgart
11/2003 Visual Spheres, Public Spheres, Visual Publics? Institute of Visual Studies,
University of Linz
10/2003 In Search of the Public Sphere. Department of Anthropology, University of
Basel
11/2002 Godly Monuments. Memory and Monument in Osogbo, Nigeria.
International Conference. The Audience of Images. Visual Publics in Africa
and Beyond, University of Bayreuth
11/2002 Learning from Debord in Osogbo. Art, Anarchy and Arrest in Nigeria.
Rautenstrauch Joest Museum in Cologne
9/2002 Godly Monuments. Memory, Media and Money in Osogbo, Nigeria. Panel:
Museums and Heritage, ASA Conference in Manchester,
7/2002 Osogbo Revisited. International Conference: A Passion of Images: Ulli Beier
and his Contribution to Yoruba Studies. Iwalewa-Haus. University of
Bayreuth
5/2002 Vital Politics. From History to Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria. Conference. “The
Vitality of the Local and the Localization of the Global.” University of
Bayreuth
9/2001 Dreamwork, Imagework, Artwork. The Case of Osogbo, Nigeria.
International Colloquium, 100 Years Sigmund Freud’s Traumdeutung. Bad
Homburg
7/2001 Imagination, Aesthetic Practice and the Global Art World. A Research Project.
Department of Anthropology. Free University Berlin.
4/2001 From World Picture to Picture World: A Note on the Prehistory of the Iconic
Turn. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Universität, Frankfurt, Germany
11/2000 Dancing AIDS. Morality, Politics and Performance in Malawi. University of
Leipzig
4/2000 Picture Dance. Reflections on Nyau Image and Experience Opening of the
Exhibition “Fabulous Beasts. Masked Portraits of Douglas Curran.” Iwalewa-
Haus, University of Bayreuth
10/1998 Imagination und Repräsentation. Variationen indigener Ethnographie in
Malawi. Conference: Afrikaner Schreiben Zurück. University of Cologne
9/1999 Ritual, Raum und Erinnerung. Organisation of Panel and Introductory Paper
Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (DGV).
University of Heidelberg
6/1998 Auf der Suche nach dem Publikum. Prolegomena zu einer Anthropologie der
Öffentlichkeit im Subsaharischen Afrika. Ringvorlesung Kulturen des
Performativen. Free University Berlin
3/1999 Mischung und Moderne. University Seminar, Institute for African Studies,
University of Bayreuth.
9/1998 Afrikanische Modernen, Institute for African Studies, Humboldt University
Berlin
7/1998 The Modernity of Masking Traditions in Central Malawi. Department of Fine
11/1997 Die Moderne und das Böse. Symposium Afrika und die Moderne, Haus der
Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
and Performing Arts, Chancellor College, University of Zomba
4/1996 Malinowski’s Pendelschlag. Die Ausstellung Afrika: Die Kunst eines
Kontinents im Berliner Gropius Bau. Institute for African Studies, Humboldt
University Berlin
9/1995 Die Moral von Mchape. On Healing, Social Memory and the Enigma of the
Public Sphere in Post-Banda-Malawi Annual Conference, Association of
German Anthropology. Vienna, Austria
10/1994 Omais Erben: Polynesische Variationen über die Ästhetik des Lokalen im
Globalen. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. SMPK.
3/1993 Letter and the Spirit. Literacy and Religious Authority in the History of the
Aladura Movement in Western Nigeria. University Lecture Series. Free
University Berlin
10/1992 Über das Ethnologische Interesse am Traum. Anmerkungen zu einer
verlorenen Neugier. Annual Conference of the German Anthropological
Association. Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
4/1992 Kunst und Körper. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. SMPK
4/1992 Der Dekorierte Körper. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. SMPK
5/1991 Prophet Harris the Weberian Concept of Disenchantment. Afrikanistentag,
University of Mainz
6/1988 Medicine as a Political Category. The Case of the Wimbum in the Cameroon
Grassfields. Conference “Ethnomedical Systems in Sub-Sahara Africa.”
African Studies Center, Leiden, Netherlands
9/1987 Literacy and the Great Divide. A Pragmatic Reconceptualization. Annual
Conference of German Association of Sociology
12/1985 All the President’s Men. Local Politics and Social Change in Northwest-
Cameroon. Department of Anthropology. Bern, Switzerland.
10/1985 Who are the Tikar? Department of History. University of Yaounde, Cameroon
FIELDWORK
2021 – ongoing Berlin
2019 Venice & Rome, Italy
2010 Dresden, Germany
2000 – 2009 Osogbo, Nigeria
1993 – 1999 Lilongwe, Malawi
1984 – 1986 Ndu, Cameroon
1981 Yap, Micronesia
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Memberships
Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA)
African Studies Association (ASA)
College Arts Association (CAA)
European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Editorial Advisory Board
Critical Interventions. Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture (Routledge)
Past:
Art in Translation (Getty Foundation)
Journal of African History (Cambridge University Press)
Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (Reimer Verlag)
Evaluation Work
Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung
German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Getty Foundation
Mellon Foundation
NEH
National Humanities Center, NC
University Presses in the U.S.
Ph.D. Committee Work & Tenure/Promotion Cases
Columbia University
Boston University
Emory University
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Harvard University
Iowa State University
Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
New York University
Princeton University
Stanford University
Universität Bayreuth, Germany
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
University of Rochester
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Yale University
Books
Monographs
2022 What is African Art? A Short History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
2011 Osogbo and the Art of Heritage. Monuments, Deities, and Money
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
2005 Kalumbas Fest. Lokalität, Geschichte und Rituelle Praxis in Malawi (Berlin: Lit).
1992a Schrift, Staat und Symbolisches Kapital im Grasland von Kamerun (Berlin: Lit).
1992b Der Dekorierte Körper. Dimensionen der Tätowierung in der Südsee (Berlin: SMPK).
Edited and Co-Edited Volumes & Special Issues
2023 Art History and Anthropology – Modern Encounters, 1870 to 1970, co-edited with
Joseph Imorde (Los Angeles: Getty Publications).
2021 National Museums in Africa. History, Identity, Politics, co-edited with Georges Abungu
and Raymond Silverman (London & New York: Routledge).
2012 “Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage,” Special Issue of African Arts, Vol. 45, No. 3
2009 “Hybrid Heritage” co-edited with Ferdinand de Jong, Special Issue of African Arts, Vol.
42, No. 4.
2008 “Visual Publics,” Special Issue of Critical Interventions. Journal of African Art
History and Visual Culture. Vol 1, No. 2.
2004 Between Resistance and Expansion, co-edited with Gerd Spittler, (Berlin & Rochester:
Lit & Transaction Publishers).
2002 African Modernities. Entangled Meanings, Current Debate, co-edited with Jan Georg
Deutsch and Heike Schmidt (Oxford & New York: James Currey).
Articles and Book Chapters
2023a “Arbeit am Erbe. Das Humboldt Forum als Totale Institution.“ Lettre International, No.
142, pp. 29-33.
2023b “Die Ruine. Nachgedanken zum Berliner Humboldt Forum.“ Geschichte der Gegenwart,
https://geschichtedergegenwart.ch/die-ruine-nachgedanken-zum-berliner-humboldtforum/
2023c “Introduction,” in Art History and Anthropology – Modern Encounters, eds. Peter Probst
& Joseph Imorde, (Los Angeles: Getty Publications), pp 1-10.
2023d “Pathos and Paideuma. Aby Warburg, Leo Frobenius and the Demons of
Culture,” in Art History and Anthropology – Modern Encounters, eds. Peter Probst &
Joseph Imorde, (Los Angeles: Getty Publications), pp 146-172.
2022 “Fragments: Jacob Lawrence and the Osogbo Episode,” in Black Orpheus:
Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, eds. Kimberli Gant & Ndubuisi Ezeluomba,
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), pp. 153-160.
2021a “Introduction,” in National Museum in Africa. History, Identity, Politics, eds. Ray
Silverman, Peter Probst and George Abungu (eds.), (London & New York:
Routledge), pp. 1-17.
2021b “Coda – A Conversation with Peter Probst and George Abungu,” in National
Museum in Africa. History, Identity, Politics, eds. Ray Silverman, Peter Probst and
George Abungu, (London & New York: Routledge), pp. 244-254.
2021c “From Wakanda to Benin: Some Thoughts on Restoration, National Museums, and
Architectural Design,” in Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide, eds. Phllipp Meuser
and Adil Dalbai (Berlin: DOM Publishers), pp. 190-192 (reprint)
2020a “Passions and Pathogens: Notes on the Uncertainty of Heritage,” Hau. Journal of
Ethnographic Theory, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 967-710
2020b “From Wakanda to Benin: Some Thoughts on Restoration, National Museums, and
Architectural Design,” in Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide, eds. Phllipp Meuser
and Adil Dalbai (Berlin: DOM Publishers), pp. 108-109
2018 “Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage,” in A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage, eds.
Sheila Watson, Amy Jane Barnes, Katy Bunning (New York: Routledge), 332-329 (reprint
2012)
2017 “The Gift of Heritage. Making “Eco” Economical in Nigeria,” in Decolonial
Heritage Natures, Cultures, and the Asymmetries of Memory, eds. Annibal Arregui, Gesa
Mackenthun & Stephanie Wodianka (Münster: Waxman), pp. 151-174
2016a “Prickly Prestations. Living with (World)Heritage in Nigeria.” World Heritage on
the Ground, eds. Christoph Brumann & David Berliner (Oxford: Berghahn), pp.
248-272
2016b “Über Kreuz: Leo Frobenius als Gegenspieler von Aby Warburg” Kulturkreise:
Leo Frobenius und seine Zeitgenossen. eds. Jean-Louis Georget, Hélène
Ivanoff und Richard Kuba (Berlin: Reimer Verlag), pp. 25-43
2016c “Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, ed.
Stephen Ross, rem.routledge.com
2016d “Susanne Wenger,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, ed. Stephen Ross,
rem.routledge,com
2015a “Afrikanische Moderne im Zeichen der Dekolonisierung: Anyanwu von Ben
Enwonwu.” In Kanon Kunstgeschichte, eds. Martin Schulz & Kirstin Marek,
(München und Paderborn: Fink), pp. 400-418
2015b “Celebrating Indigeneity in the Shadow of Heritage. Another Version of the Osun
Festival,” in African Indigenous Religions in Local and Global Contexts. Festschrift in
Honor of Jacob Olupona., ed. David Ogungbile, (Ibadan: Malthouse Press), pp. 245-354.
2014a “Sublime Images. Masked Performances and the Aesthetics of Belonging in
Malawi.” in Masquerade. Essays on Tradition and Innovation Worldwide, ed. Deborah
Bell, (Jefferson: McFarland), pp. 84-90.
2014b “Remixing Heritage. How the Grove of a Nigerian River Deity became a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.” World Heritage and National Registers in Perspective, eds. Thomas
Gensheimer & Celeste Guichard (Rochester: Transaction Publishers), pp. 33-45.
2013a “Preserving Heritage and the Values of Exchange. Lessons from Nigeria,”
History Compass. Vol. 11, No. 12, pp. 1035-1046.
2013b “Chris Marker’s Even Statues Die. An Introduction,” Art in Translation, Vol. 6, p.
429.
2013c “Bedürfnis zur Beachtung: Ikonoklasmus, afrikanisches Kulturerbe und
Bildökonomie,” Paideuma. Vol. 59, pp. 31-49.
2013d “Determining Value and the Politics of Presence,” African Arts, Vol. 46/2, p. 11
2013e “New Media for Old Deities. Creating and Disputing Iconic Objects at a Nigerian World
Heritage Site.” The Challenge of the Object, eds. Georg Ulrich Großmann & Petra
Krutisch, (Nuremberg: Verlag des Germanischen Nationalmuseums), pp. 458-459.
2013f “From Iconoclasm to Heritage. The Osogbo Art School and the Dynamics of
Modernism in Nigeria,” A Companion to Modern African Art. A Reader, eds.
Monica Visona & Gitti Salami, (Malden, MA: Wiley & Blackwell), pp. 294-310.
2012a “Iconoclash in the Age of Heritage,” African Arts, Vol. 45/3, pp. 10-13.
2012b “Lagos – Oshodi. Inspecting an Urban Icon.” Afropolis, ed. Kerstin Pinter et al.
Köln: Walter König (English translation from 2010 catalogue), pp. 138-143.
2011 “Revisiting Osogbo – Religion, Media, and Control in a Nigerian Heritage
Site,” Critical Interventions. Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, Vol. 7,
pp. 65-83.
2010a “Roundtable Contemporary African Art History and the Scholarship,” NKA.
Journal of Contemporary African Art. No. 24, pp. 80-151.
2010b “Troubled Waters. On Ownership and Otherness,” African Arts, Vol. 43/2, pp. 7- 9.
2010c “Die Stimmung von Osogbo. Kulturerbe als Politik von Präsenz.” Spiegel und
Prisma. Festschrift für Ute Luig, eds. Dorothea Schulz & Jochen Seebode,
Berlin: Argument Verlag, pp. 252-266.
2010d “Lagos-Oshodi. Zur Inspektion einer Urbanen Ikone.“ Afropolis, ed. Kerstin Pinter et al.
(Köln: Walter König), pp. 138-143.
2009a “Yoruba Heritage as Project, Reauthenticating the Osun Grove in Osogbo,
Nigeria,” African Arts, Vol. 42/4, pp. 24-37.
2009b “Modernism against Modernity. A Tribute to Susanne Wenger,” Critical
Interventions, Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, No.3/4, pp.
245-255.
2009c “Mixed Media,” Journal of Material Religion, Vol. 5/2, pp. 229-230.
2008a “A Matter of Mimicry: Visual Publics.” Critical Interventions, Journal of African Art
History and Visual Culture, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 2-7.
2008b “The Modernity of Heritage.” Figurations of Modernity. Global and Local
Representations in Comparative Perspectives, eds. Vincent Houben & Mona
Schrempf, (Frankfurt: Campus), pp. 155-178.
2007a “An African Journey. Cultural Heritage and the Popularity of Primitivism.” RES,
Journal of Anthropology and Comparative Aesthetics, Vol. 52, pp. 153-161
2007b “Picturing the Past. Heritage, Photography, and the Politics of Appearance in
a Yoruba Town,” Reclaiming Heritage. Alternative Imaginaries of Memory, eds.
Michael Rowlands & Frederick de Jong, (Walnut Creek, CA: LeftCoast Press),
pp. 99-12
2007c “Betwixt and Between. African Studies in Germany.” The Study of Africa. Vol. II,
ed. Paul Zeleza, Dakar & Michigan: (Dakar: Codesria & University of Michigan
Press), pp. 157-297.
2006 “Weltkulturerbe als Exportschlager.” Lettre International, No. 74, pp. 124-125
2005a “Between and Betwixt. African Studies in Germany.” Africa Spectrum, Vol. 30,
No. 3: 403-427.
2005b “Medien, Grenzen, Öffentlichkeit. Für ein relationales Verständnis des
Lokalen.” Globalisierung und Lokales Handeln, eds. R. Loimeier et al. (Münster: Lit
Verlag), pp. 175-208
2005c “Zeitgenössische Kunst in Afrika.” Brockhaus. Kunst der Welt. (Mannheim:
VBI), pp. 542-559
2004a “Keeping the Goddess Alive: Performing Culture and Remembering the Past in
Osogbo, Nigeria.” Social Analysis, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 32-54
2004b “From an Anthropology of Astonishment to a Critique of Anthropology's
Common Sense” (together with Gerd Spittler), in Between Resistance and
Expansion. Explorations of Local Vitality in Africa, eds. P. Probst & G. Spittler,
(Münster & Rochester: Lit & Transaction Publishers) pp. 1-24
2004c “Vital Politics. History and Heritage in Osogbo, Nigeria.” Between Resistance
and Expansion. Explorations of Local Vitality in Africa, eds. P. Probst & G.
Spittler, (Münster & Rochester: Lit & Transaction Publishers), pp. 279-
298
2004d “Schrecken und Staunen. Nyau Masken der Chewa im Kontext der Konjunktur des
Okkulten und der Medialisierung des Schreckens,” Africa Screams. Das Böse in Kino,
Kunst und Kult, ed. Tobias Wendl, (Wuppertal: Peter Hammer), pp. 115-125
2003 “Differenz und Schaulust. Zur Sexualisierung des Sehens bei Twins Seven
Seven, Rotimi Fani Kayodé und Yinka Shonibare.” Sexualität und Tod.
Afrikanische Kunst und AIDS, ed. K. Schaefer( Köln: Kunst Verlag), pp. 26-38
2002a “Expansion and Enclosure. Ritual Landscapes and the Politics of Space in
Central Malawi.” Journal of Southern African Studies Vol. 28, pp. 178-196
2002b “Kalumbas Tänzer und Malandas Zorn. Polyzentrische Öffentlichkeit und die
Kraft des Performativen in Zentralmalawi.” Paideuma. Vol. 48: 135-143
2002c “Entangled Meanings, Cherished Visions.” African Modernities. Entangled
Meanings and Current Debate, eds. G. Deutsch, P. Probst & H.
Schmidt, (Oxford & New York: J. Currey & Heinemann), pp. 1-17
2002d “Osogbo oder das Wunder der Wandlung“Afrikanische Reklamekunst. Wuppertal, ed.
Tobias Wendl, (Wuppertal: Peter Hammer), pp. 83-93
2001a “Traumwerk, Bildwerk, Kunstwerk: Visualität und ästhetische Praxis in
Osogbo, Nigeria,” 100 Jahre Traumforschung: Kulturwissenschaftliche
Perspektiven, ed. B. Schnepel, (Köln: Köppe Verlag), pp. 178-197
2001b “Bild als Weltbild. Zentrale Verschiebungen in einem marginalen Thema.” In: H.
Behrend (Hrsg.) Geist, Bild, Narr. Zu einer Ethnologie der Konversionen.
Festschrift für Fritz Kramer, ed. Heike Behrend, (Berlin: Philo), pp. 207-223.
2001c “Krankheit und Heilung.” Afrikalexikon, ed. E. Maabe (Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag, pp. 617-
619.
2001d “Traum.” Afrikalexikon, ed. E. Maabe, (Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag), p. 647.
2001e “Siegfried Nadel. Foundations of Social Anthropology.” Hauptwerke der
Ethnologie, eds. C. Feest & K.H. Kohl, (Stuttgart: Kröner), pp. 337-341
2000a “Picture Dance. Reflections on Nyau Image and Experience.” Iwalewa Forum,
Vol. 3/1, pp.17-32
2000b “Mischung und Moderne.” Wörterbuch der Ethnologie, ed. B Streck, (Wuppertal:
Peter Hammer), pp. 156-160
1999a “Mchape 95 or the Sudden Fame of Billy Goodson Chisupe: On Healing, Social
Memory and the Enigma of the Public Sphere in Post-Banda-Malawi.” Africa,
Vol. 69/1, pp. 108-137
1999b “Körperbild und Körperkultur.” Ohne Körper Geht Nichts. Ein Theorie-Praxis
Hand Buch für Theater und Pädagogik, eds, G. Koch et al, (Berlin &
Mielow: Schibri), pp.90-102
1999c “Von der Somatischen Wende zum Ästhetischen Aufbruch: Neues von der
Körperfront.” Ohne Körper geht Nichts. Ein Theorie-Praxis Hand Buch für
Theater und Pädagogik, eds, G. Koch et al (Berlin & Mielow: Schibri), pp. 51-61
1998a “Auf der Suche nach dem Publikum. Prolegomena zu einer Anthropologie der
Öffentlichkeit im Subsaharischen Afrika.” Paragrana. Vol. 7, pp. 291-305
1998b “Imagination und Repräsentation: Variationen indigener Ethnographie in
Malawi.” Afrikaner Schreiben Zurück, eds. H. Behrend & T. Geider, (Köln:
Köppe), pp. 81-103
1997 “Danser le Sida: Nyau Performances et Chewa Culture Populaire dans le Centre
du Malawi,” Les Arts de la Rue dans les Sociétés du Sud, eds. A. Ricard & M.
Agier, Autrepart (Cahiers des Sciences Humaines, Nouvelle Série); Vol. 1/1, pp.
91-112
1996a “Arbeit am Körper.” Anthropos, Vol. 91/1, pp. 225-229
1996b “Malinowskis Pendelschlag.” Historische Anthropologie, Vol 4/1, pp. 471-475
1995a “Die Moral von Mchape: Erinnerung, Kult und Krise in Malawi.” Das Große Sterben.
Seuchen machen Geschichte, ed. Hans Wilderotter, (Berlin: Jovis), pp. 234-249.
1995b “Moral Discourses and Ritual Authority in Central Malawi.” Sozialanthropologische
Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 66, Berlin: Das Arabische Buch, pp. 1-16.
1994 “Omais Erben: Polynesische Variationen über die Ästhetik des Lokalen im
Globalen.” Historische Anthropologie, Vol. 2/1, pp. 87-106.
1993a “Über das ethnologische Interesse am Traum. Anmerkungen zu einer
verlorenen Neugier. ” Anthropos, Vol. 88/1, pp. 153-162.
1993b “The Letter and the Spirit.” Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy, ed. Brian
Street, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, pp. 198-220.
1993c “Im Zeichen der Körper: Tradition und Politik im gegenwärtigen Polynesien.” Von
Kokos zu Plastik. Kulturen der Südsee im Wandel, ed, Markus Schindlbeck,
(Berlin: SMPK), pp. 49-66.
1993d “Kunst und Körper. Tatauierung in der Südsee.“ Museums Journal SMPK, Vol.
7/1, pp. 31-34.
1992 “Die Macht der Schrift. Zum ethnologischen Diskurs über eine populäre
Denkfigur. ” Anthropos, Vol. 87, pp. 167-179.
1991 “Comment on Crane’s "Composing Culture" Current Anthropology, Vol. 32, pp.
307-308
1990a “Schrift, Schriftlichkeit, Verschriftlichung. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven eines
ethnologischen Forschungsfeldes. ” Kodikas/Code, Vol. 13, pp. 21-39.
1990b “Patterns of Control. On Medicine, Politics and Social Change among the
Wimbum, Cameroon Grassfields. ” Anthropos, Vol. 85, pp. 447-454.
1989 “The Letter and the Spirit. Literacy and Religious Authority in the History of the
Aladura Movement in Western Nigeria. ” Africa, 59/4, pp. 477-495.
1988a “Beobachtung und Methode. Johann Stanislaus Kubary als Reisender und
Ethnograph im Spiegel seiner Briefe an Adolph Bastian.” Baessler Archiv, Vol.
3, pp. 23-56.
1988b “Medicine as a Political Category. The Case of the Wimbum in the Cameroon
Grassfields.” Ethnomedical Systems in Sub-Sahara Africa, ed. P. Nkwi
(Leiden: African Studies Center), pp. 219-231.
1987 “Randbemerkungen und empirische Notizen zum Thema Verschriftlichung.”
Technik und Sozialer Wandel, Beiträge zum 23. Deutschen Soziologentag, ed. J.
J. Friedrichs, (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag), pp. 33-37.
1987 “The Letter and The Spirit. Literacy and Religious Authority in the History of the
Aladura Movement.” Sozialanthropologische Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 4, Berlin: Das
Arabische Buch , pp. 1-18.
1984 “Herrschaft und Fremdherrschaft.” Bikini oder die Bombardierung der Engel, ed.
F. Kramer et al. Frankfurt a.M: Syndikat, pp. 29-45.
Reviews
2010 “Sidney Kasfir, African Art and the Colonial Encounter. Bloomington University of
Indiana Press.” Journal of African History, Vol. 51/1, pp. 104-105.
2008 “Arnd Schneider & Chris Wright (eds.) Contemporary Art and Anthropology.
London/New York: Berg.” Anthropos Vol. 103, pp. 287-288.
2007 “African Comics. An Exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem.” African Arts, Vol. 40,
pp. 88-89.
2005 „K.H. Kohl. Die Macht der Dinge. Geschichte und Theorie Sakraler Objekte.“ München:
CH Beck.“ Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. Vol. 71, pp. 291-293.
2004a “F. Ginsburg, L. Abu Lughod, & Larkin, B.( eds.) Media Worlds.” Anthropos, Vol. 98, pp.
342-342.
2004b “Setha M. Low, & Denise Lawrence-Zuniga (eds.) Anthropology of Space and Place:
Locating Culture.” Anthropos Vol. 98, pp. 356-357.
2002 “Marc Felix and Michel Jordan. Mask Characters of the Upper Zambezi. Anthropos, Vol.
97, pp. 574-575.
2001 “John & Jean Comaroff (eds.), Civil Society and the Political Imagination of Africa,”
Anthropos, Vol.96, pp. 457-458.
2000a “Johannes Fabian. Moments of Freedom. Anthropology and Popular Culture.”
Anthropos Vol. 95, pp. 257-258.
2000b “Zoe S. Strother, Inventing the Mask. Agency and History in the Art of the Central
Pende.” Anthropos, Vol. 95, 645-646.
1999 “John Weintraub &. K. Kumar (eds). Public and Private. “Anthropos, Vol. 94, pp. 640-
641.
1998a “Laurel Birch de Aguilar, Inscribing the Mask. Interpretation of Nyau Masks and Ritual
Performance among the Chewa in Central Malawi.” Anthropos, Vol. 93, pp. 233-235.
1998 “David Parkin, L. Caplan & H. Fisher (eds.) The Politics of Cultural Performance.”
Anthropos, Vol. 93, pp. 267-268
1994a “Brian Turner, Regulating Bodies.” Anthropos, Vol. 89/2, p. 631.
1994b “Margaret Lock and Shirle. Lindenbaum (eds.) Knowledge, Power and Practice.”
Anthropos, Vol. 89/2, p. 632.
1993a “D.B. Gewertz and F.K. Errington. Twisted Histories and Altered Contexts: Representing
the Chambri in a World System.” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Vol.118, pp. 129-130.
1993b “M.C. Jedrei & R. Shaw. 1992. Dreaming, Religion and Society in Africa.” Anthropos,
Vol. 88/2 , pp. 291-293.
1992 “R. Dillon 199O. Ranking and Resistance: A precolonial Cameroonian Polity in Regional
practice.” Africa, Vol. 88, p. 195 (review)
1991a “Mark W. Delancey. Cameroon - Dependence and Independence In: Africa, Vol. 61 /2,
p. 312.
1991b “Peter Geschiere and P. Konings (eds.) On the Political Economy of Cameroon.
Historical Perspectives.“ Africa, Vol. 61/2, p. 194
1991c Schrift, Kultur, Schriftkultur. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven eines ethnologischen
Forschungsfeldes. Sozialanthropologische Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 35, Berlin: Das
Arabische Buch , pp. 1-15.
1989a “Alexander Henn. Reisen in Vergangene Gegenwart. Geschichte und Geschichtlichkeit
der Nichteuropäer im Denken des 19. Jahrhunderts.“ Mundus, Vol. 25/2, pp. 116-
117.
1989b “Christoph Marx, Völker ohne Schrift und Geschichte. Zur Historischen Erfassung des
vorkolonialen Schwarzafrikas in der deutschen Forschung des 19. und frühen 20.
Jahrhunderts.“ Mundus. Vol. 25/3, pp. 202-203
1989c “Christraud Geary, Images from Bamum. German Colonial Photography at the Court of
King Nyoja, Cameroon, Westafrica, 1902-1915.“ Tribus, Vol. 38, pp. 174-175.
Working Papers, Interviews, Reports, etc.
2003a “Interview with Michael Lambek, NAB Newsletter of African Studies at Bayreuth
University, Vol. 2/2, pp. 6-9.
2003b ”Interview with Ulf Hannerz. NAB Newsletter of African Studies at Bayreuth University,
Vol. 2/1, pp. 6-9.
2002a “Interview with Frederick Cooper. “NAB Newsletter of African Studies at Bayreuth
University, Vol. 1/2, pp. 6-9.
2002b “Interview with Jean and John Comaroff.” NAB Newsletter of African Studies at
Bayreuth University, Vol. 1/1, pp. 4-7.
1998 “Afrikanische Moderne(n) – Bericht über eine Veranstaltungsreihe an der Humboldt-
Universität", Humboldt-Spektrum, Bd. 5/4, pp. 24-29