Urban Anthropology: Postcolonial Urbanisation, Mobility and Migration
Museum Anthropology: Contested Cultural Heritage, Displacement, Provenance and Restitution

West Africa: Benin Republic, Nigeria
South America: Brazil, Colombia
Europe: Switzerland, France

Dr. Alice Hertzog is the director of the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich. As a social anthropologist, her research has two main preoccupations. The first, in the field of urban anthropology, questions the social transformations occurring with post-migrant cityscapes. The second focus, situated in museum anthropology, investigates the circulation of contested cultural heritage held in ethnographic museums. Both aspects of her research are influenced by postcolonial perspectives, examining the ways in which flows of people and material culture negotiate colonial legacies and impact social change.

She joined the museum in 2023 as provenance researcher, having previously worked at the Museum Rietberg, where she undertook research for the Swiss Benin Initiative, investigating the collections of eight Swiss museums. She is an alumna of Cambridge University, Sciences Po, École Normale Supérieur d’Ulm, and the ETH Zurich. 

Alice Hertzog is committed to collaborative methodologies and strengthening the interface between science and society. She has previously developed participatory research processes with cultural institutions, local governance and international development agencies.

• Benin Dues – Dealing with Looted Royal Treasures
• Provenance Hacks – Digital Interfaces for Visualizing Collections
• OpenEthno: Unlocking Collections Data