After World War Two, the field of ethnology was in need of radical reform: The fact that the discipline was intertwined with “racial studies” demanded a reorientation of the subject, and museums destroyed in the war had to be rebuilt. In the GDR, studying “the other” was advocated as a way to foster cultural understanding and to dismantle racism.
This exhibition chapter illustrates how the application of the doctrine of “friendship among peoples” in the field of ethnology influenced cultural policy as well as diplomacy in the GDR. The field’s efforts in popularization and public education turned museums into places of longing where the populace sought respite from the travel restrictions of the regime.
Image:
Trompetta
Fragment of the Berlin Wall
17th November 2019
Photo
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praca_w_niemczech_bez_jezyka.jpg?uselang=de,
changes due to retouching
