Romana Bund
Romana Bund
Romana Bund is a project assistant (prae-doc) of the research platform's PhD Program "Cultural Mobility Studies" (FWF) since November 1st, 2019.
PhD Thesis:
Post-mortal mobility: Human and Animal Specimens on the Move
Research interests
- Material Cultures
- Object Biographies
- Natural History and History of Science
- Gender and Agency
Curriculum vitae
BA in Philosophy and German Studies at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz; transdisciplinary MA in Media Culture and Art Theory at the University of Art Linz, Master thesis in the field of Cultural Studies about Taxidermic Thinking: A Rereading of the Practices and Surfaces in Animal Preservation; in addition to her academic work she is regularly involved in exhibition and festival projects.
Project outline
Preserved specimens, whether of human or animal origin, are immobilized bodies that are nevertheless in motion. Since the 16th century preserved bodies have been fed into colonial flows of knowledge and goods. With each transfer of the specimens, transformation processes are set in motion. With every movement through space and time, their ontological status changes as well. Therefore, preserved specimens are not (any longer) thought of as passive units. They are part of heterogeneous networks and relational structures that only emerge through exchange and interaction in topologically and historically specific situations. Categories like stability and duration are challenged, as are universally valid classification techniques, which have been established in the course of modern dichotomization and demarcation processes. Preserved human and animal specimens on the move are hybrids that operate between life and death, nature and culture, motion and stasis, as well as myth and fact. Their multi-layered modes of mobility require a constant adaptation of modes of observation and interaction.
With the help of an object biographical approach, the project looks for the entangled networks and connections of preserved and mobile bodies deeply inscribed in colonial histories. Case studies will be used to uncover narratives of mobility that can tell of preserved mermaids and theories of evolution as well as intersectional Apewomen.