Académie des Traces

Since 2023, the Académie des Traces has been offering an innovative educational programme that is

• transnational
• multilingual
• interdisciplinary
• free of charge
• accessible

The Académie des Traces is a living network of more than 500 people. It creates a platform for sharing methods, knowledge, and perspectives, emphasizing museum practices and academic research. It prioritizes the amplification of emerging voices in both areas. Join our community here!

In 2025, for its second edition, the Académie des Traces remained dedicated to exploring heritage constituted in colonial contexts, exploring how it can help us think and work through some key societal challenges of today.

In April of 2024 and 2025 an online seminar series explored four topics through the lens of colonial heritage. The Académie des Traces has invited international researchers and professionals to offer complementary perspectives, fostering an ongoing dialogue between participants from Europe and Africa. 

The four online seminar session of the academy's second edition in april 2025 gave room for discussion on the following topics. 

► (Re)Mediate / Participate. Mediation et participation

► Preserve/Adjust. Environment, climate and sustainability

► Render (in)visible/Reactivate. Digitisation, new media and technologies

► Diagnose/ (De)toxify. Health, mental health and well-being

The entire documentation and videos of the seminars can be found on the project's webiste.  

The 2024 Edition of the Académie des Traces was structured around four key themes:

► Restitute/Repatriate,

► Represent/Exhibit,

► Acquire/Appropriate,

► Imagine/Perform

These themes were explored through an online workshop (with videos available on this site), a spring school in Berlin, and a study day at the Villa Médicis in Rome.

Launched at the end of March and throughout April, the Académie des Traces dossier, “Examining De/Colonial Traces Through Colonial Collections,” will unveil the contributions of the 2024 Académiciens and Académiciennes, published in partnership with the platform Contemporary And (C&).

The Académie des Traces is hosted by inherit.heritage in transformation and the Centre Marc Bloch, two research centres at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. It is developed in partnership with the École du Patrimoine Africain, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, and the University of Bucarest.

In 2025, the Académie des Traces is made possible thanks to the support of the Strategic Partnership Funding of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, inherit.heritage in transformation, and the Centre Marc Bloch.

The Académie des Traces would not have been possible without the support of Centre Marc Bloch e.V., the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), the École du Patrimoine Africain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Franco-German Youth Office, the Stiftung Deutsch-Amerikanische Wissenschaftsbeziehungen, the Stiftung Genshagen, and the Université Franco-Allemande.