Research interests
Material culture, collecting, consumption, and cultural appropriation; museology and decolonization
Regional specialization
Sub-Saharan Africa, Switzerland
Short bio
Dr. Alexis Malefakis is a curator at the Ethnographic Museum. He received his doctorate in ethnology from the University of Konstanz in 2015 with a dissertation on the sociality of street vendors in urban East Africa. Prior to that, he studied Social and Cultural Anthropology, Sociology and International Law at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
As curator of the African collections at the Ethnographic Museum, a cross-cutting theme of his work is the study of ethnographic collecting and the museum as a European cultural practice and as a European cultural artefact. He is interested in how the legacy of these practices can be renegotiated today and what role museums, the original creators of collections, members of diaspora groups and other stakeholders play in this process.
Exhibitions
| 2024–2026 | Benin Dues. Dealing with Looted Royal Treasure co-curation with Alice Hertzog |
| 2022–2024 | Honeymoon? 5 Questions on the "Hans Paasche Collection" from East Africa |
| 2019–2020 | Talking with Drums. West African Percussion Skills in Global Conversation |
| 2017–2018 | |
| 2016 | Making a Living from Old Shoes. Tanzanian Street Vendors as Urban Experts |
Current Research Projects
- Benin Dues. Dealing with Looted Royal Treasures (German Version)
Publications
ZORA Publication List
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Publications
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About metal soaps in ethnographic collections. CeROArt: Conservation, Exposition, Restauration d'Objets d'Art, 13:1-17.
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A horse, a rider and a head. Fragments of Edo Heritage at the Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich. In: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela. Mobilizing : Benin heritage in Swiss museums. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 62-65.
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“You are still holding on to our future”. In: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela. Mobilizing : Benin heritage in Swiss museums. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 40-43.
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Collaborative provenance research. Investigating Benin object biographies. In: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela. Mobilizing : Benin heritage in Swiss museums. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 26-31.
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«Ich lege die Hand auf das Elfenbein und spüre die rote Erde von Benin». Begegnungen mit der Diaspora im Museumsdepot. In: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela. In Bewegung : Kulturerbe aus Benin in Schweizer Museen. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 96-99.
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Benin Initiative Schweiz: Neue Wege der Zusammenarbeit. In: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela. In Bewegung : Kulturerbe aus Benin in Schweizer Museen. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 8-15.
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From "recycling" to "reverse engineering". Skill Research in the Ethnographic Museum. In: Kidenda, Mary Clare; Kriel, Lize; Wagner, Ernst. Visual Cultures in Africa. Münster, New York: Waxmann, 71-79.
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Book Review: Mary Njeri Kinyanjui, African Markets and the Utu-ubuntu Business Model: a perspective on economic informality in Nairobi. Cape Town: African Minds (pb R250 – 978 1 928331 78 0). 2019. Africa : Journal of the International African Institute, 91(1):120-122.
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Zur Frage der Dekolonisierung von Wissen in ethnologischen Museen. Nach Feierabend. Zürcher Jahrbuch für Wissensgeschichte, 15:215-237.
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Tanzania's informal economy. The micro-politics of street vending. London: Zed Books.
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»Tansanier mögen keine unversehrten Sachen«. Reparaturen und ihre Spuren an alten Schuhen in Daressalam, Tansania. In: Krebs, Stefan; Schabacher, Gabriele; Weber, Heike. Kulturen des Reparierens : Dinge – Wissen – Praktiken. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 303-326.
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Gridlocked in the city: kinship and witchcraft among Wayao street vendors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Africa : Journal of the International African Institute, 88(S1):S51-S71.
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Auto Didaktika : Drahtmodelle aus Burundi / Wire Models from Burundi. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art Publishers.
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The fate of the Han Coray collection and the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zürich. In: Burmeister, Ralf; Oberhofer, Michaela; Tisa Francini, Esther. dada Africa. Dialogue with the Other. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 124-127.
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Das Schicksal der Sammlung Han Coray und das Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich. In: Burmeister, Ralf; Oberhofer, Michaela; Tisa Francini, Esther. dada Afrika. Dialog mit dem Fremden. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 124-127.
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Rewarding frictions. Fieldwork and street vending in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 140(1):177-189.