Research Coordinator
Email: felicia.meynersen@gmx.de
Dr Felicia Meynersen studied Archaeology, Byzantine Studies and Prehistory at the Universities of Mainz and Berlin. An archaeologist by training, she holds a PhD from the University of Mainz. Felicia was assistant professor at the University of Saarbrucken (2006-2012), worked as a research fellow in the “Syrian Heritage Archive Project” (SHAP) at the German Archaeological Institute (2013-2015, DAI Berlin) and in the Special Research Program in the Humanities “Cultural and Linguistic Contacts” (University of Mainz); she coordinated the multinational EU-project “Preservation of Cultural Heritage Training Program” at the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute (2003-2005) and was scientific coordinator of the first joint project of the Archaeological Heritage Network “Zero Hour – A Future for the Time after the Crisis” (German Archaeological Institute Berlin, 2016-2018).
Her research and teaching focuses are phenomena of contact and change in the MENA region, the history of emotions, animal images as well as critical heritage and museum studies.
Felicia’s current research project “Museums in Dialogue with the Future” focuses on the political-historical negotiation of archaeologies in Lebanon through time. The focus is on museums themselves as ‘key cultural loci of our times’ (Macdonald). The central thesis is that archaeological museums and collections do not only preserve but also actively produce history. Examining archaeology in Lebanon from the 19th century to the present day, the research project considers how such representations of history are constructed, by whom and why.
During her stay in Beirut, Felicia presented this project at the National Museum Beirut on 3 October 2019 in the form of an academic guided tour in response to a request by the German Embassy in Beirut. The results from October, especially with regard to museums in their function as archives, were delivered by Felicia on 16 December 2019 at the international Palmyra Conference of the Université de Lausanne („Politics of Archives“).
Questions: Building on the so-called “second wave” in museology and the experiential knowledge from the Syrian Heritage Archives Project (SHAP) in Berlin, the project aims to make a contribution towards examining the potential that archaeological museums in Lebanon have for further development. The two principal questions are:
- Where does a museum stand in relation to inequality and injustice, and what potential does it have to act against them?
- To what extent do museums not only reflect normative concepts like fairness and power relationships between groups, but also contribute to forming them?
The aim is to describe and compare solutions, reveal similarities and differences, and thereby contribute to differentiated theorizing.
Central thesis: Museums and collections can play a unique role in overcoming social challenges. The results of the project promise for museums and curators an improvement in the circumstances of educational success and refugee participation.
Aim of the project: One outcome of the project should be a thematic dossier available in digital form, which can be made accessible to the entire Institute. In addition the researcher responsible for the project will present its findings at a public event.
Method: The project has an interdisciplinary approach and combines the findings of empirical social research, experimental education research and the “second wave” of museum studies. Complementing that is a re-reading of museum history with the aid of “museum literature”, which is highly varied in form: visitor feedback, museum guides, coverage in newspapers and the specialist press. The starting point here is the founding of museums and a comparison of their collection profiles (with a focus on national museums). Particular attention will be paid to identifying factors of museum practice (architecture, collection profiles, scientific conception, didactic design, presentation and staging, activities by museum representatives). Leading on from this, it will allow spaces for reflection and open dialogue. Against this background, visitors are no longer mere recipients, but active makers of meaning.
The project consequently also has the aim of exploring what the possibilities and limits are for museums when it comes to education, creative research and international cooperation. It looks at opportunities for participation and transformation processes and for various forms of participation (spectrum: contributive, collaborative, co-creative, hosted).
Value of the project: The value and importance for the Institute consists, for example, in an array of innovative collaborative activities, better processes in terms of access and participation, intensification of existing contacts, establishing new contacts and identifying new target groups. These are “best practice” data and instruments that can be of use in teams in the area of “museums and neighbourhoods”.
Duration: The project is planned to continue for three years. The first stage comprises the launch of the project and data gathering. Phase two is data analysis. In the final phase the data are prepared and a closing report is compiled. In the course of the project many types of interaction are conceivable – with internal and external partners on a local, regional and transregional level (e.g. UNESCO field office, AUB, affiliated institutes like the Ifpo, NGOs, societies, neighbours and communities) as well as with institutions in other countries (e.g. universities in Jordan, Egypt) which the author has good contacts with. There is a general willingness to cooperate.
Effect: In its public and interactive form, the project will contribute to the development of a new understanding of culture in which modern knowledge dissemination methods are applied. Participation and equal opportunities strengthen local communities in the face of current challenges (Encourage and Empower). Trainees become trainers, multipliers that encourage others to engage more deeply with museums.
Target groups: Experts, students and refugees. This kind of participation on an equal footing, which involves both refugees and locals, has been and continues to be successfully practised at excavations and in museums.
Publicity: A laboratory exhibition with photos, models and originals is planned, to be organized in cooperation with tried and tested partners and key institutions of the host country as well as local community partners. The exhibition will be accompanied by a scientific publication (results and methods), which will involve different publics, specialists from abroad, and researchers of the younger generation. Approaching well regarded foundations for third party funding is envisaged in the draft of the project, with the project’s jump-starting character being emphasized.
Author: Dr Felicia Meynersen
felicia.meynersen@gmx.de
Selection
Capacity Development and New Technologies. Experience Report 2016-2018, in: H. Hayajneh (ed.), CULTURAL HERITAGE: At the Intersection of the Humanities and the Science, Alexander von Humboldt-Kolleg Conference, organized by the Yarmouk University in Cooperation with DAAD, UNESCO Office Amman and the Support of the German Jordanian University, Amman, 16-18 April 2019 (= Archäologie: Forschung und Wissenschaft, Bd. 7) (LIT-Verlag, Münster et al. 2020, in press)
The German Archaeological Heritage Network (ArcHerNet) and Its Joint Project „A Future for the Time After the Crisis“, in: K. Saito – T. Sugiyama (eds.), Proceedings & Report of the Conference „Saving the Syrian Cultural Heritage for the Next Generation: Palmyra. A Message from Nara“, organized by Nara Kasugano International Forum, The Executive Committee oft he Silk Road Friendship Project, Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ministry for Foreign Affairs Japan, July 11-14, 2017 (Nara/Japan 2018) 267-176.
Vom „Lachen“ in der griechischen Bildwelt. Dramaturgie und Wirkung, in: T. L. Kienlin – L. C. Koch (eds.), Emotionen – Perspektiven auf Innen und Außen, 2. Kölner Interdisziplinäre Vorlesung „Archäologie und Kulturwissenschaften“ an der Universität zu Köln im Wintersemester 2013/14 (= Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 305) (Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2017) 263-294.
Unity and Individuality. Reflections on Images of Animals from South Syria in the Roman Imperial Period, in: E. B. Aitken – J. Fossey (eds.), The Levant. Crossroads of Late Antiquity. History, Religion and Archaeology (= McGill University Monographs in Classical Archaeology and History, 22) (Brill; Leiden/Boston 2014) 305-331.
„Look at Me.“ Verständigung durch Schmuck und der Körper als Träger von Zeichen. Ein Armfragment der mittleren Kaiserzeit im Nationalmuseum Beirut, in: T. Kienlin (ed.), Die Dinge als Zeichen: Kulturelles Wissen und materielle Kultur, Internationale Fachtagung an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt a.M., 3.-5. April 2003 (= Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 127 (Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2005) 395-407.