Layered Colonialisms. Understanding Western and Russian Colonial Legacies in Museums and Heritage

The project investigates the layered influences and contemporary legacies of Western and Russian colonial projects by focusing on objects of cultural heritage, the different significant actors and public museums roles in this context. It will examine colonial relationships in the North East European border zone between Europe and Russia to connect different colonialisms, their hierarchies, frictions and coexistence in art and heritage. By focusing on Baltic and Finnish heritage and museum histories, and combining the methods of archival and provenance research and visual culture studies the project will create a new understanding of North East European histories in the context of colonial, postcolonial and postsocialist studies. Thereby launching the first comprehensive study into histories of provenance and museums in the region, it will lead to complicating the understanding of colonial relationships embedded in heritage and contribute new concepts and methods for a more complex and nuanced study of colonial heritage.