Marzia Varutti

Associate Professor - Cultural History and Museology
Image of Marzia Varutti
Norwegian version of this page
Email marzia.varutti@ikos.uio.no
Phone +47 22856992
Room 426 PAM
Username
Visiting address IKOS P. A. Munchs hus 3 Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 0371 OSLO
Postal address Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 OSLO

Academic Interests

  • critical museum and heritage studies
  • museum anthropology and collaborative museology
  • emotions in museums
  • relations between museums and Indigenous Peoples
  • cross-cultural perspectives on heritage and museums
  • multiculturalism and cultural diversity in museums
  • material culture and object biographies
  • cultural heritage and collective memory
  • national narratives in museums

Regional expertise: Taiwan; Norway; limited field research in British Columbia (Canada) and Belize.

Teaching

As part of the Master in Museology and Cultural Heritage, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo.

  • Critical Museum Studies: history and theory (MUSKUL4200)
  • Research Methods in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies (MUSKUL4110/4210)
  • Master thesis writing seminars (MUSKUL4590)

As part of the BA in Cultural History, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo.

  • Museums: a Cultural History (KULH2008)
  • Material culture in a Globalized World (KULH2081)

2012-15 Lecturer, Master in Museum Studies, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester (UK).

PhD supervision

  • Liisa-Rávná Finbog, The making of indigenous identity through the use of material culture within a museological framework
  • Eva Johansen, The restitution of Sámi cultural heritage: what happens locally? (co-supervision with Prof. Stein Roar Mathisen, UiT)
  • Laura Osorio Iregui, Weaving heritage in a globalized world. A case study of Wayuu and Wounan Colombian indigenous crafts.

Completed: Sofia Bollo, Chinese cultures on display, URPP Asia & Europe, University of Zürich/CH (co-supervision).

Higher education and employment history

  • Since 2016: Associate Professor in Museology and Cultural History, IKOS
  • 2012-15: NFR-FRIHUM Postdoctoral Fellow, IKOS
  • 2009-12: Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester (UK)
  • 2008 PhD, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), University of Geneva, Switzerland. PhD thesis: 'Which museum for what China? Museums, objects and the politics of representation in the post-Maoist transition'.
  • Between 2005 and 2008 (total of 12 months), Collections assistant, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge (UK)
  • 2003 Master in International and Development Studies, IHEID, University of Geneva.
  • 1999 Master in Diplomatic Studies, Institute of International Sociology (Gorizia, Italy) / Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

International affiliations and cooperation

  • Visiting Research Fellow, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester (UK)
  • Visiting Researcher, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (June-July 2014)
  • Visiting Researcher, College of Indigenous Studies, Donghwa University, Taiwan, R.O.C. (Feb-Aug 2013)
  • Visiting Researcher, Graduate School of Museum Studies, Taipei National University of the Arts, R.O.C. (Feb-Aug 2010; Sept-Dec 2011)
Tags: Museums and Museology, Cultural History, Indigenous Peoples, Material culture, Taiwan, Norway, Canada (British Columbia), Belize.

Publications

Books

  • 2015. ‘Rethinking Sámi Museums’, special issue, Journal of Nordic Museology. Co-editor with Eva Silvén, Silje Opdahl Mathisen and Rossella Ragazzi.
  • 2014. Museums in China. The politics of representation after Mao. Boydell & Brewer.  ISBN 9781843838883.  203 s.

Selected refereed journal articles and book chapters

  • Varutti, Marzia 2021 'Affective encounters in museums', in Þóra Pétursdóttir and Torgei Rinke Bangstad (eds) Heritage Ecologies, London: Routledge.

  • Varutti, Marzia 2021 (co-authored with Geoffrey Gowlland) ‘Museums as sites of Indigenous Revitalisation’ in The Museum in Asia, Cai Yunci (ed), Leicester Readers in Museum Studies, London: Routledge.

  • Varutti, Marzia 2020 ‘Vers une muséologie des émotions’, Cultures et Musées, 36:171-177. Online: https://journals.openedition.org/culturemusees/5352
  • Varutti, Marzia 2019 ‘Gradients of alterity: museums and the negotiation of cultural difference in contemporary Norway’ in Watson, Sheila, Amy Barnes, and Katy Bunning (eds). A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage. Leicester Readers in Museum Studies. London: Routledge. P.527-542.
  • Varutti, Marzia 2018 "‘Authentic reproductions’: museum collection practices as authentication", Museum Management and Curatorship 33(1): 42-56.
  • Varutti, Marzia 2017 ‘Materializing the past: mannequins, history and memory in museums. Insights from the Northern European and East-Asian contexts’, in A.S. Hjemdahl and S. Opdahl Mathisen (eds) Bodyworks, Journal of Nordic Museology, special issue, vol 1, pp.5-20.
  • Varutti, Marzia 2016 ‘A kaleidoscopic vision: exhibiting and imagining the Viking Past in Fra Istid Til Kvitekrist’, Primitive Tider spesialutgave, p.27-38.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2015). Crafting Heritage: Artisans and the Making of Indigenous Heritage in Contemporary Taiwan. International Journal of Heritage Studies (IJHS).  ISSN 1352-7258. 21(10):1036-1049.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2014). Polysemic objects and partial translations: Museums and the Interpretation of Indigenous Material Culture in Taiwan. Museum Anthropology.  ISSN 0892-8339.  37(2), s 102- 117 
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Controversial indigeneity: museums representing non-officially recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  (2), s 17- 32
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Learning to share knowledge. Collaborative projects between national and indigenous museums in Taiwan, In Viv Golding & Wayne Modest (ed.),  Museums and Communities: Curators, Collections and Collaboration.  Berg Publishers.  ISBN 9780857851314.  chapter 3.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2012). Towards social inclusion in Taiwan: museums, equality and indigenous groups, In Richard Sandell & Eithne Nightingale (ed.),  Museums, Equality and Social Justice.  Routledge.  ISBN 978-0-415-50468-3.  chapter 17.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Miniatures of the nation: ethnic minority figurines, mannequins and dioramas in Chinese museums. Museum & Society.  ISSN 1479-8360.  9(1), s 1- 16
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Standardizing difference: the materiality of ethnic minorities in the museums of the Peoples' Republic of China, In Sandra Dudley; Amy Jane Barnes; Jennifer Binnie; Julia Petrov & Jennifer Walklate (ed.),  The Thing About Museums. Objects and Experience, Representation and Contestation..  Routledge.  ISBN 978-0-415-67904-6.  chapter 21.

  • Varutti, Marzia (2020). Vers une muséologie des émotions. Culture et Musées.  ISSN 1766-2923.  (36), s 171- 177
  • Varutti, Marzia (2018). Gradients of alterity: museums and the negotiation of cultural difference in contemporary Norway, In Sheila Watson; Amy Jane Barnes & Katy Bunning (ed.),  A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage.  Routledge.  ISBN 978-1138950924.  chapter 36.  s 527 - 542
  • Varutti, Marzia (2018). Musings on Museology. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  1, s 147- 149 . doi: 10.5617/nm.6414 Full text in Research Archive.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). "‘Authentic reproductions’: museum collection practices as authentication". Museum Management and Curatorship.  ISSN 0964-7775.  33(1), s 42- 56 . doi: 10.1080/09647775.2017.1387589 Full text in Research Archive.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). Materializing the past : mannequins, history and memory in museums : insights from the Northern European and East-Asian contexts. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  (1), s 5- 20 . doi: 10.5617/nm.6297
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). Materializing the past: mannequins, history and memory in museums. Insights from the Northern European and East-Asian contexts. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  1, s 5- 20 Full text in Research Archive.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2016). A kaleidoscopic vision: exhibiting and imagining the Viking Past in Fra Istid Til Kvitekrist. Primitive tider.  ISSN 1501-0430.  s 27- 38
  • Varutti, Marzia (2015). Crafting Heritage: Artisans and the Making of Indigenous Heritage in Contemporary Taiwan. International Journal of Heritage Studies (IJHS).  ISSN 1352-7258.  21(10), s 1036- 1049 . doi: 10.1080/13527258.2015.1050055
  • Varutti, Marzia (2014). Polysemic Objects and Partial Translations: Museums and the Interpretation of Indigenous Material Culture in Taiwan. Museum Anthropology.  ISSN 0892-8339.  37(2), s 102- 117 . doi: 10.1111/muan.12056
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Controversial indigeneity: museums representing non-officially recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  (2), s 17- 32 . doi: 10.5617/nm.3076
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Learning to share knowledge. Collaborative projects between national and indigenous museums in Taiwan, In Viv Golding & Wayne Modest (ed.),  Museums and Communities: Curators, Collections and Collaboration.  Berg Publishers.  ISBN 9780857851314.  chapter 3.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2012). Towards social inclusion in Taiwan: museums, equality and indigenous groups, In Richard Sandell & Eithne Nightingale (ed.),  Museums, Equality and Social Justice.  Routledge.  ISBN 978-0-415-50468-3.  chapter 17.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Gradients of Alterity. Museums and the Negotiation of Cultural Difference in contemporary Norway. Arv. Nordic Yearbook of Folklore.  ISSN 0066-8176.  67, s 13- 36
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Miniatures of the nation: ethnic minority figurines, mannequins and dioramas in Chinese museums. Museum & Society.  ISSN 1479-8360.  9(1), s 1- 16
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Standardizing difference: the materiality of ethnic minorities in the museums of the Peoples' Republic of China, In Sandra Dudley; Amy Jane Barnes; Jennifer Binnie; Julia Petrov & Jennifer Walklate (ed.),  The Thing About Museums. Objects and Experience, Representation and Contestation.  Routledge.  ISBN 978-0-415-67904-6.  chapter 21.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2010). Indexes of exclusion: absence and silences in Chinese ethnic minority museums, In Olivia Guntarik (ed.),  Narratives of Community and Hope: Museums and Ethnicity.  MuseumsEtc..  ISBN 978-1-907697-05-0.  chapter 2.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2010). The aesthetics and narratives of national museums in China, In Simon Knell; Peter Aronsson & Arne Bugge Amundsen (ed.),  National Museums. New Studies from Around the World.  Routledge.  ISBN 978-0-415-54774-1.  chapter 18.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2010). The politics of imagining and forgetting in Chinese ethnic minorities museums. Outlines : Critical Social Studies.  ISSN 1399-5510.  (2), s 69- 82
  • Varutti, Marzia (2010). Using different pasts in a similar way. Museum representations of national history in Norway and China. Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research.  ISSN 2000-1525.

View all works in Cristin

  • Varutti, Marzia (2014). Museums in China. The politics of representation after Mao. Boydell & Brewer.  ISBN 9781843838883.  203 s.

View all works in Cristin

  • Varutti, Marzia (2019). Exploring Indigenous curatorial perspectives - In Rome.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2019). Venturing into the Wild.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2018). [Book Review] Museums in a Time of Migration. Rethinking museums’ roles, representations, collections, and collaborations.. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2018). Can we rethink museology through indigenous perspectives?.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2018). Reflections on Indigenous Heritage in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). Exploring Indigenous Curatorial Perspectives.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). Exploring and theorizing indigenous museums.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). Indigeneity in the museum: transforming museum theory and practice through indigenous perspectives - keynote.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2017). ‘What does it mean for a museum to be socially engaged?’.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2016). Authentic reproductions. Museums and the authentication of contemporary indigenous heritage.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2016). 'Entre silence et activisme : le rôle des musées taiwanais dans la reconnaissance indigène', Actes du Colloque «Exposer, s'exposer : de quoi le musée est-il le contemporain?», Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (MuCEM), Marseille, France..
  • Varutti, Marzia (2016). Reinventing Indigenous Heritage in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2016). Contemporary challenges in curating indigenous heritage.
  • Varutti, Marzia; Silvén, Eva; Ragazzi, Rossella & Opdahl Mathisen, Silje (2015). Rethinking Sámi cultures in museums. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  2
  • Varutti, Marzia (2014). European Museums in the 21st century. Nordisk Museologi.  ISSN 1103-8152.  (1), s 122- 128
  • Varutti, Marzia (2014). Notes on the politics of display of indigenous heritage in contemporary Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2014). Public debate on 'Repatriering', invited discussant.
  • Varutti, Marzia & Mathisen, Silje Opdahl (2014). International conference 'Rethinking Sámi Museums'.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Between silence and activism: the role of museums in contested claims to indigenous recognition in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Collection of artifacts from Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan, for the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). ‘Indigeneity in the making: ‘heritage objects’ and indigenous groups in Norway and Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Indigenous museum expertise: reflections on the role of indigenous curators in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Making indigenous heritage objects in Taiwan: notes on objects collected for the Museum of Cultural History.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2013). Review of the exhibition 'Villa Sovietica. Soviet Objects: Import-Export'. Journal of Museum Ethnography.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2012). [Book Review] The lives of Chinese objects: Buddhism, Imperialism and display by Louise Tythacott. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.  ISSN 1359-0987.  18(4), s 889- 890
  • Varutti, Marzia (2012). Negotiating indigeneity: Museums and indigenous groups in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2012). The lives of Chinese objects: Buddhism, imperialism and display. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.  ISSN 1359-0987.  18(4), s 889- 890 . doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2012.01798_4.x
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Indigenous communities, activism, and new challenges for museum practice.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Multiple translations: museums and the interpretation of indigenous material culture in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Nationalizing indigeneity? Museums and indigenous groups in Taiwan.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2011). Taiwanese memory revisited. ICOM News Magazine.  ISSN 1020-6418.  64(3), s 8- 8
  • Varutti, Marzia (2010). China on Display: National Narratives in Chinese museums.
  • Varutti, Marzia (2010). Tao canoes: an exploration into the polysemic character of a museum object.

View all works in Cristin

Published July 5, 2012 2:26 PM - Last modified Jan. 8, 2021 2:22 PM

Projects

Research groups