The German Ethnographic Expeditions to the Kimberley, Northwest Australia. A Collaborative Assessment of Research History, the Interpretation of Australian Aboriginal Heritage and Digital Repatriation

该项目的目的是对德国文化形态学研究所（现位于美因河畔法兰克福的弗罗贝纽斯研究所）于1938年和1939年以及当时的民族学博物馆（慕尼黑）于1954年和1955年对西北部金伯利进行的人种学考察进行第一阶段的系统和协作评估。这些探险都是由研究人员进行的，他们最初与利奥·弗罗贝纽斯有联系，他们是第一批专门进入澳大利亚这一地区的民族志/人类学探险队。他们也是第一个专门记录岩石艺术图像和伴随的叙述。后一个方面特别重要，因为研究人员在原住民Wandjina Wunggurr社区的区域内工作，他们继续保留着一种文化传统，其中岩石艺术构成了不可或缺的元素，直到今天。考察队制作了大量材料，分发给德国的一些机构。这些大部分未出版的材料包括档案材料，人种学对象，岩石艺术图像的复制品以及广泛的照片集。虽然这些探险队的成员在二战后用德语出版了数量有限的出版物，但这些材料本身从未使用现代批判方法和技术进行过评估。最重要的是，从未与相关土著社区的成员一起对这些资料和档案记录进行过审查，也没有以方便和文化敏感的方式向土著社区提供有关资料和档案记录的信息。与相关土著社区合作，使用系统的历史和人类学方法。土著社区将从这些成果中受益，因为将通过各自的土著社区档案以及适当的出版物，以负责任和对文化敏感的方式，以数字形式向社区成员提供材料。该项目将为当今德国有关人种学博物馆和收藏品的关键辩论领域做出贡献。其成果具有学术性质和价值，并就如何处理德国机构和土著社区之间共有遗产的标准提出建议。此外，项目成果将通过一个巡回展览向广大公众公布，该展览是由莫万朱姆艺术中心（澳大利亚金伯利）、韦森澳大利亚博物馆（珀斯）和德国的有关博物馆和机构（美因河畔法兰克福的世界文化博物馆和弗罗贝尼乌斯研究所;以及慕尼黑的Fünf Kontinente博物馆）合作举办的。

The aim of this project is to develop the first stage of a systematic and collaborative assessment of the German ethnographic expeditions to the Northwest Kimberley that were conducted by the Institut für Kulturmorphologie (now Frobenius Institute, Frankfurt am Main) in 1938 and 1939 and the then Museum für Völkerkunde (Munich) in 1954 and 1955. These expeditions were both conducted by researchers, who were originally associated with Leo Frobenius and they were among the first dedicated ethnographic/anthropological expeditions into this part of Australia. They were also the first to specifically record rock art images and accompanying narratives. This latter aspect is particularly significant, because the researchers worked within the region of the Aboriginal Wandjina Wunggurr communities, who continue to preserve a cultural tradition in which rock art constitute integral elements until the present day. The expeditions have produced an extensive amount of materials that is distributed across a number of institutions in Germany. These largely unpublished materials comprise archival materials, ethnographic objects, reproductions of rock art images as well as an extensive collection of photographs. Although a limited number of publications by the members of these expeditions have been produced in German after WWII, the materials themselves have never been assessed using modern critical methods and techniques. Most importantly, they have never been examined together with members of the relevant Aboriginal communities and information about the materials and archival records has not been made available to the Aboriginal communities in accessible and culturally-sensitive ways.In summary, the project is intended to contribute towards a critical analysis of these expeditions and the respective collections, using systematic historical and anthropological methods in collaboration with the relevant Aboriginal communities. The latter will profit from the results as materials will be made accessible to community members in responsible and culturally-sensitive ways in digital form through the respective Aboriginal community archive(s) as well as appropriate publications. The project will contribute to key areas of debate concerning ethnographic museums and collections in Germany today. The outcomes are intended to be of academic character and value and also to make suggestions for standards how to deal with a heritage shared between German institutions and Indigenous communities. Furthermore, the project results will be made available to a larger public through a travelling exhibition, developed in an international collaboration between the Mowanjum Arts Centre (Kimberley, Australia), the Wetsern Australian Museum (Perth) and the relevant museums and institutions in Germany (Museum der Weltkulturen and Frobenius-Institut in Frankfurt am Main; as well as Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich).