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Fiona Möhrle, M.A.

Research Coordinator Berlin's Australian Archive

Adresse: Am Neuen Palais 10
Building 19, Room 0.26
14469 Potsdam

About

Since January 2026, I am working at the University of Potsdam as research coordinator for the project "London Commercial Outlets: Mapping Provenance in London’s Commercial Supply of Oceanic Cultural Belongings and Ancestors to German Museums, 1880–1955" led by Prof. Dr. Anja Schwarz (Uni Potsdam) and Prof. Dr. Cressida Fforde (Australian National University).

From January 2023 to December 2025 I worked at the University of Potsdam as research coordinator for the project Berlin’s Australian Archive (BAA) led by Prof. Dr. Anja Schwarz (Uni Potsdam) and PD. Dr. Eva Bischoff (Uni Trier).

My second affiliation is with the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, where I am part of the Wissenschaftsraum Provenienz- und Sammlungsforschung Digital (ProSaDi)where I'm working under JProf. Dr. Julia Wurr (Institute for Anglistik, Postcolonial Studies). The research project explores cowrie shells, their usages past and present as well as 3D-imaging and modelling techniques. My own work concentrates on post- and decolonial aspects of cowrie shells and nature/culture divides.

In 2023, I finished my master’s degree in Applied Cultural Studies and Cultural Semiotics at the University of Potsdam where I also did my bachelor in Cultural Studies and English. My master’s thesis was strongly attached to my then workplace, the archive at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN). In my thesis, I explored archives as a place of cultural remembrance and forgetting, as well as addressing questions of dealing with archival material from colonial contexts, especially from Australia. This interest stemmed from a long-time involvement with the project Berlin’s Australian Archive and personal interests in the mechanisms of cultural memory.

Research Interests

Coming from a cultural studies background, I am interested in intercultural entanglements (past and present) and the history of natural sciences in the 19th century in connection with colonialism.

Works, Conferences, and Events

  • Adams, L., de Boer, V., Kahmen, O., Möhrle, F., & Ziemer, D. (2025). The Digitisation of Ethnographic Objects Featuring Cowrie Shells in the Research Cluster ProSaDi: A Case Study of a 'Cartridge Pouch' from Togo. Digital Turn. Collections – Provenances – Markets (Digital Turn), Berlin. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17532752
  • Möhrle, Fiona, Anja Schwarz, and Eva Bischoff, eds. Provenance Research in Colonial Natural History Collections from Australia: Perspectivia.net, to be published in 2026.
  • “Archive als Orte des kulturellen Gedächtnisses – Der Umgang mit Archivgut aus kolonialen Kontexten am Beispiel des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin” Masterarbeit 2023 (https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-65343).
  • „Ist ein Tier ein Dokument?“ Essay for Bilder der Natur (https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/de/ist-ein-tier-ein-dokument), 2024.
  • „Collections from Colonial Australia in Berlin's Museum für Naturkunde and the Challenges of Data Accessibility“ – Conference poster for TDWG 2023 with Co-Authors Prof. Dr. Anja Schwarz and Dr. Sabine von Mering (https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.7.111980).
  • “Berücksichtigung von Indigenous Property Rights bei der Digitalisierung der Bildsammlung Blandowski“ – Lecture/speech with Alona Dubova at the 5. Workshop Retrodigitalisierung organised by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (https://doi.naturkundemuseum.berlin/data/10.7479/bmey-0h14).
  • „Interview: Working in the Archive II” https://collectingoz.hypotheses.org/161.