Looted Literature? A Virtual Exhibition Tour
Can literature become a form of colonial loot? This virtual tour revisits an exhibition that was on view at Freie Universität Berlin from April to July 2023. Focusing on the period from around 1910 to the present, it explores the European appropriation of oral literatures, particularly from African colonies. The tour offers insight into provenance research in literary studies, tracing the trajectories of these materials: from early recordings to ethnological and avant-garde publications, and ultimately to their commodification within the global market of “world literature.”

Andreas Schmid (Peter Szondi Institute of Comparative Literature, Free University Berlin)
Date: 6 March 2026, 17:00
Venue: Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Venue Details: Seminar Room 5
Speaker: Andreas Schmid (Free University Berlin)
Organisers: Norman Aselmeyer (University of Oxford), Carolin Duttlinger (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: norman.aselmeyer@history.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark