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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“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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About metal soaps in ethnographic collections CeROArt: Conservation, Exposition, Restauration d'Objets d'Art, 13:1-17.
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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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In Bewegung : Kulturerbe aus Benin in Schweizer Museen Edited by: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela (2024). Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess.
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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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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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«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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Mobilizing : Benin heritage in Swiss museums Edited by: Tisa Francini, Esther; Hertzog, Alice; Malefakis, Alexis; Oberhofer, Michaela (2024). Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess.
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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.