Decolonizing Museum Cultures and Collections: Mapping Theory and Practice in East-Central Europe. International conference for heritage scholars and practitioners

Post- and decolonial approaches already have a strong foothold in post-socialist Eastern European scholarship and public discourse with regard to the legacies of Russian/Soviet, German/Nazi, Habsburg, Polish, and Ottoman imperialisms. But in practice, the impact of decolonial critique has been limited to temporary interventions rather than more sustainable heritage methods and strategies. Similarly, the rediscovery of 19th and 20th-century entanglements among East-Central Europe, Asia, and the Global South by historians have been only weakly echoed in the museum sector. Overseas collections in East-Central European museums call for special attention with regard to both their histories and futures.