Ethnographic Museum

The Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich is a social anthropology science museum and the third oldest ethnographic museum in Switzerland. In research, teaching and public outreach activities, it focuses "On Human Skill" and shows the full range and diversity of human competences.

In exchange with members or descendants of those communities of origin who once invented, produced and used them, the objects in our collections are explored under topical questions and, if possible, researched collaboratively. The origin of these objects and the circumstances of their acquisition, as well as the colonial past of collections, are also addressed. And (self-) critical questions are asked about who actually talks about cultures and societies and how they are represented.

Thus, as a place of dialogue, the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich encourages reflection on what it means to be human.