Prof. Dr. Sharon Macdonald
Sharon Macdonald is Professor of Social Anthropology in the Institute of European Ethnology and Director of the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH). From 2021 she has been Director of the Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Techniques.
Trained at the University of Oxford, she has held Chairs at the Universities of Sheffield, Manchester and York, and been a visiting Professor at Peking University among others. She came to Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin as Alexander von Humboldt Professor in 2015.
Sharon is internationally known for her research on museums and heritage, with her work having been translated into many languages.
Institute for European Ethnology
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Mohrenstraße 40/41
10117 Berlin
Monographs & Books
Harrison, R., DeSilvey, C., Holtorf, C., Macdonald, S., Bartolini, N., Breithoff, E., Fredheim, H., Lyons, A., May, S., Morgan, J., Penrose, S. 2020. Heritage Futures. Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press.
https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/125036
Macdonald, S. 2013. Memorylands. Heritage and Identity in Europe Today. Oxford/New York: Routledge.
Macdonald, S. 2008. Difficult Heritage: Negotiating the Nazi Past in Nuremberg and Beyond. London: Routledge.
Macdonald, S. 2004. The Politics of Heritage. edited by Littler, J., Naidoo, R. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203339978
Macdonald, S. 2002. Behind the Scenes at the Science Museum. Oxford/New York: Berg Publishers.
Macdonald, S. 1997. Reimagining Culture: Histories, Identities and the Gaelic Renaissance. Oxford: Berg Publishers.
Edited Volumes & Exhibition Catalogues
Puzon, K., Macdonald, S., Shatanawi, M. eds. 2021. Islam and Heritage in Europe: Past Developments and Future Possibilities. Abingdon: Routledge.
Bock, J., Macdonald, S. eds. 2019. Refugees Welcome? Difference and Diversity in a Changing Germany. Oxford: Berghahn.
Macdonald, S., Tinius, J., Gerbich, C., Foerster, L., von Oswald, M., Puzon, K. eds. 2018. Otherwise. Rethinking Museums and Heritage. CARMAH Berlin (Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage). Berlin: Carmah.
http://www.carmah.berlin/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/CARMAH-2018-Otherwise-Rethinking-Museums-and-Heritage.pdf
Macdonald, S., Leahy, H.R. eds. 2015. The International Handbooks of Museum Studies. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Macdonald, S., Basu, P. eds. 2007. Exhibition Experiments. New Interventions in Art History. Malden/Oxford/Victoria: Wiley-Blackwell.
Macdonald, S. ed. 2006. A Companion to Museum Studies. Oxford: Blackwell.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470996836
Macdonald, S. ed. 1997. The Politics of Display: Museums, Science, Culture. London: Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203838600
Macdonald, S. ed. 1993. Inside European Identities: Ethnography in Western Europe. London: Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003135050
Articles in Edited Volumes
Macdonald, S., Gerbich, C., Gram, R., Puzon, K., Shatanawi, M. 2021. »Reframing Islam? Potentials and challenges of participatory initiatives in museums and heritage.« In Islam and Heritage in Europe: Past Developments and Future Possibilities, edited by Puzon, K., Macdonald, S., Shatanawi, M. Abingdon: Routledge.
Macdonald, S. 2021. »Seven modes of museum forgetting.« In What’s Missing? Collecting and Exhibiting Europe, edited by Edenheiser, I., Tietmeyer, E., Boersma, S. Berlin: Reimer Verlag, 234-240.
Shatanawi, M., Macdonald, S., Puzon, K. 2021. »Heritage, Islam, Europe: entanglements and directions. An introduction.« In Islam and Heritage in Europe, edited by Puzon, K., Macdonald, S., Shatanawi,M. Abingdon: Routledge.
Macdonald, S. 2020. »Immersed in the Nazi past: limits, risks and approaches in the mediation of dangerous histories.« In Mediated Pasts – Popular Pleasures. Medien und Praktiken populärkulturellen Erinnerns, edited by Bareither C., Tomkowiak, I. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 31–40.
Macdonald, S. 2020. »Laying the foundations of the anthropology of Europe. An ethnography of culture theory.« Epilogue to the new edition. In Ours Once More. Folklore, Ideology and the Making of Modern Greece, edited by Michael Herzfeld Oxford: Berghahn, 143-50.
Macdonald, S. 2020. »Re-worlding the museum. Or the museum for possible futures.« In Das Museum der Zukunft, edited by schnittpunkt and Baur J. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 189-94.
Macdonald, S. 2020. »Transforming the ethnographic: anthropological articulations in museum and heritage research.« In Across Anthropology. Troubling Colonial Legacies, Museums, and the Curatorial, edited by von Oswald, M., Tinius, J. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 47-60.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv125jqxp.7
Tinius, J., Macdonald, S. 2020. »The recursivity of the curatorial.« In The Anthropologist as Curator, edited by Sansi, R. London: Bloomsbury, 35–57.
https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350081970
Bock, J., Macdonald, S. 2019. »Introduction: making, experiencing and managing difference in a changing Germany.« In Refugees Welcome? Difference and Diversity in a Changing Germany, edited by Bock, J., Macdonald, S. Oxford: Berghahn, 1-38.
Macdonald, S. 2019. »Heritage traces, differences and futures: new research approaches to heritage and society.« In Heritage and Society, edited by Kucek, R., Purchla, J. Krakow: International Cultural Centre, 25–41.
Macdonald, S. 2019. »Refugee futures and the politics of difference: a concluding reflection.« In Refugees Welcome? Difference and Diversity in a Changing Germany, edited by Bock, J., Macdonald, S. Oxford: Berghahn, 312-331.
Macdonald, S. 2019. »Researching ethnographic museums in Europe.« In Museumsethnologie. Eine Einführung. Theorien, Debatten, Praktiken, edited by Edenheiser, I., Förster, L. Berlin: Reimer, 360-70.
Macdonald, S. 2019. »Wie Museen vergessen – sieben Weisen.« Historisches Museum Frankfurt, 07.03.2019-14.07.2019, Frankfurt am Main. In Vergessen. Warum wir nicht alles erinnern, edited by Alley, J., Wettengl, K. Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag, 182–187.
Macdonald, S., Morgan, J. 2018. »How can we know the future? Uncertainty, transformation, and magical techniques of significance assessment in museum collecting.« In Assessment of significance. Deuten – Bedeuten – Umdeuten, edited by Falkenberg, R., Jander, T. Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, 20–26.
Macdonald, S., Morgan, J. 2018. »What not to collect? Post-coinnoisseurial dystopia and the profusion of things.« In Curatopia. Museums and the Future of Curatorship, edited by Schorch, P., McCarthy, C. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 29-43.
Macdonald, S. 2018. »Endorsement effects and warning potentials: architecture from Totalitarian eras as heritage.« In Architecture as Propaganda in Twentieth-Century Totalitarian Regimes. History and Heritage, edited by Hökerberg, H. Florence: Polistampa, 261-287.
Macdonald, S. 2018. »Heritage.« In The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, edited by Callan, H. Wiley-Blackwell.
Lidchi, H., Macdonald, S., von Oswald, M. 2017. »Engaging Anthropological Legacies.« In Museum Worlds: Advances in Research, edited by Dudley, S., McCarthy, C. 5, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Macdonald, S. 2015. »Probleme mit der Ethnologie. The Trouble with the Ethnological.« In The Laboratory Concept. Museum Experiments in the Humboldt Lab Dahlem, edited by Humboldt Lab Dahlem Berlin: Nicolai, 211-228.
Macdonald, S., Basu, P. 2014. »Experimente in Ausstellung, Ethnographie, Kunst und Wissenschaft.« In Experimentierfeld Museologie, edited by Kamel, S., Gerbich, C. Bielefeld: transcript, 71-95.
Macdonald, S. 2014. »Migrating heritage, networks and networking: Europe and Islamic heritage.« In Migrating Heritage: Experiences of Cultural Networks and Dialogues in Europe, edited by Innocenti, P. Farnham: Ashgate, 53-64.
Macdonald, S. 2013. »Difficult heritage/Eredita difficili.« In Re-enacting the Past. Museography for Conflict heritage/Riattivare il Passato. La Museografia per L’Eredita del Conflitti, edited by Bassanelli, M., Postiglione, G. Siracussa: Lettera Ventidue, 56-73.
Macdonald, S. 2012. »Nuevos pasos hacia el patrimonio transcultural.« In Otras maneras de musealizar el patrimonio, edited by Díaz Balerdi, I. Bilbao: Universidad del Pais Vasco, 79-98.
Macdonald, S. 2012. »Presencing Europe's Pasts.« In Blackwell Companion to the Anthropology of Europe, edited by Kockel, U., NicCraith, M., Frykman, J. Oxford: Blackwell, 233-252.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118257203.ch14
Macdonald, S. 2011. »Ex-siting and insighting: ethnographic engagements with place and community.« In Epistemische Orte. Gemeinde und Region als Forschungsformate, edited by Welz, G., Davidovic-Walther, T., Weber, A. Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Kulturantropolgie und Europäische Ethnologie der Universität Frankfurt am Main, 29-43.
Macdonald, S. 2011. »Museumsbesuch und Ausstellungsdesign.« In Wissen Spielen: Untersuchungen zur Wissensaneignung von Kindern im Museum, edited by Harrasser, D., Harrasser, K., Kiessling, S., Schneider, K., Sölkner, S., Wöhrer, V. Schriften zum Kultur- und Museumsmanagement. Trans. of Interconnecting: museum visiting and exhibition design. Bielefeld: transcript, 237–259.
Macdonald, S. 2011. »The Shop: multiple economies of things in museums.« In MuseumX. Zur Neuvermessung eines mehrdimensionalen Raumes, edited by von Bose, F., Poehls, K., Schneider, F., Schulze, A. Berliner Blätter, 57. Berlin: Panama-Verlag, 37-48.
Macdonald, S. 2010. »Exhibition experiments: publics, politics and scientific controversy.« In Exposer des Idées, questionner des savoirs, edited by Gaillard, R. Neuchâtel: Editions Alphil–Presses universitaires suisses, 195-203.
Macdonald, S. 2010. »Exhibition experiments: publics, politics and scientific controversy.« In Science Exhibitions: Curation and Design, edited by Filippoupoliti, A. Edinburgh: MuseumsEtc, 124–137.
Macdonald, S. 2010. »Museen erforschen. Für eine Museumswissenschaft in der Erweiterung.« In Museumsanalyse, edited by Baur, J. Bielefeld: transcript, 49–69.
Macdonald, S. 2008. »Unsettling memories: Intervention and controversy over difficult public heritage.« In Heritage and Identity, edited by Anico, M., Peralta, E. Routledge, 93-104.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203886007
Macdonald, S. 2007. »Titi ikoli in the academy.« 265.
Macdonald, S. 1994. »Whisky, Women and the Scottish Drink Problem. A View from the Highlands 1.« In Gender, Drink and Drugs, edited by McDonald, M. London: Routledge, 125-143.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003135043-6
Articles
Morgan, J., Macdonald, S. 2020. »Degrowing museum collections for new heritage futures.« International Journal of Heritage Studies, 26 (1): 56–70.
Macdonald, S. 2019. »Reframing Islam in the »Refugee Crisis«?« Material Religion, 15 (3): 378-379.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2019.1572372
Macdonald, S., Gerbich, C., von Oswald, M. 2018. »No museum is an island: ethnography beyond methodological containerism.« Museum and Society, 16 (2): 138-156.
Lidchi, H., Macdonald, S., von Oswald, M. 2017. »Engaging in Anthropological Legacies toward Cosmo-optimistic Futures?« Museum Worlds, 5 (1): 95-107.
Macdonald, S. 2016. »New constellations of difference in Europe’s 21st Century Museumscape.« Museum Anthropology, 39 (1): 4-19.
Green, S., Laviolette, P., Macdonald, S., Capo, J., de L'Estoile, B., Buchowski, M., Besnier, N., Toren, C., Foblets, M., Neskovic, V. 2015. »ForumRethinking Euro-anthropology: part two.« Social Anthropology, 23 (4): 492-509.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12269
Macdonald, S. 2015. »How Things Matter: Stories from Nuremberg.« Zeitschrift für Volkskunde, 111: 13-27.
Macdonald, S. 2015. »Is ‘Difficult Heritage’ Still ‘Difficult’?« Museum International, 67 (1-4): 6-22.
https://doi.org/10.1111/muse.12078
Macdonald, S. 2009. »Reassembling Nuremberg, reassembling heritage.« Journal of Cultural Economy, 2 (1-2): 117-34.
Macdonald, S. 2008. »Museum Europe: Negotiating Heritage.« Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 17 (2): 47-65.
https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2008.170204
Macdonald, S. 2007. »Interconnecting: Museum Visiting and Exhibition Design.« CoDesign, 3 (1): 149-162.
Macdonald, S. 2006. »Undesirable Heritage: Fascist Material Culture and Historical Consciousness in Nuremberg.« International Journal of Heritage Studies, 12 (1): 9-28.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13527250500384464
Macdonald, S. 2006. »Words in Stone?« Journal of Material Culture, 11 (1-2): 105-126.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183506063015
MacDonald, S. 1995. »Supermarket science?« Science as Culture, 5 (1): 106-123.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09505439509526418
Macdonald, S., Silverstone, R. 1992. »Science on display: the representation of scientific controversy in museum exhibitions.« Public Understanding of Science, 1 (1): 69-87.
https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-6625/1/1/010
Reviews of Books & Exhibitions
Macdonald, S. 2019. Review of Bielo, James. Ark Encounter: the making of a creationist theme park. Trollinger, Susan L. & Trollinger Jr, William Vance. Righting America at the Creation Museum. New York: Univ. Press, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 25 (3): 606-608.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13085
Talks & Presentations
Macdonald. S. Re:Worlding Heritage. Keynote at the Association of Critical Heritage Studies Biennial Conference, London. 26 August 2020.
Macdonald, S., Beaney, M. Talking with Objects. lab.Bode Set #5: Dialog, Bode Museum, Berlin. 20 February 2019.
Macdonald, S. Mobilities and Transnationalism in the 21st Century. University of Iceland, Reykjavik. 30 April 2019.
Macdonald, S. Museum Making in the 21st Century. The Humboldt Club Czech Republic, German Embassy Prague. 21 November 2019.
Macdonald, S. Too much stuff? What (not) to keep for the future? Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich. 3 December 2019.
External Grants, Fellowships, Scholarships & Residencies
Macdonald, S. 2019. Fellowship at the Royal Anthropological Institute. Royal Anthropological Institute
Macdonald, S. 2019. Fellowship at the Royal Historical Society.
Macdonald, S. 2015. Assembling Alternative Futures for Heritage. Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK
Macdonald, S. 2012. Museum shopping: objects, practices and meanings. Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK
Offered & Deputy Professorships
Macdonald, S. 2021. Honorary Professorship in Social Anthropology. The University of Aberdeen.
Macdonald, S. 2015. Alexander von Humboldt Professorship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Memberships
Macdonald, S. Since 2021. Member of the Scientific Committee of the House of European History, Brussels; and advising member for its forthcoming Operation Rubbish! exhibition.
Macdonald, S. Since 2021. Research Affiliate of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.