Research Coordinator
Dr Felicia Meynersen studied Archaeology, Byzantine Studies and Prehistory at the Universities of Mainz and Berlin. An archaeologist by training, she holds a PhD from the University of Mainz. Felicia was assistant professor at the University of Saarbrucken (2006-2012), worked as a research fellow in the “Syrian Heritage Archive Project” (SHAP) at the German Archaeological Institute (2013-2015, DAI Berlin) and in the Special Research Program in the Humanities “Cultural and Linguistic Contacts” (University of Mainz); she coordinated the multinational EU-project “Preservation of Cultural Heritage Training Program” at the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute (2003-2005) and was scientific coordinator of the first joint project of the Archaeological Heritage Network “Zero Hour – A Future for the Time after the Crisis” (German Archaeological Institute Berlin, 2016-2018).
Her research and teaching focuses are phenomena of contact and change in the MENA region, the history of emotions, animal images as well as critical heritage and museum studies.
Felicia’s current research project “Museums in Dialogue with the Future” focuses on the political-historical negotiation of archaeologies in Lebanon through time. The focus is on museums themselves as ‘key cultural loci of our times’ (Macdonald). The central thesis is that archaeological museums and collections do not only preserve but also actively produce history. Examining archaeology in Lebanon from the 19th century to the present day, the research project considers how such representations of history are constructed, by whom and why.
During her stay in Beirut, Felicia presented this project at the National Museum Beirut on 3 October 2019 in the form of an academic guided tour in response to a request by the German Embassy in Beirut. The results from October, especially with regard to museums in their function as archives, were delivered by Felicia on 16 December 2019 at the international Palmyra Conference of the Université de Lausanne („Politics of Archives“).
Selection
Capacity Development and New Technologies. Experience Report 2016-2018, in: H. Hayajneh (ed.), CULTURAL HERITAGE: At the Intersection of the Humanities and the Science, Alexander von Humboldt-Kolleg Conference, organized by the Yarmouk University in Cooperation with DAAD, UNESCO Office Amman and the Support of the German Jordanian University, Amman, 16-18 April 2019 (= Archäologie: Forschung und Wissenschaft, Bd. 7) (LIT-Verlag, Münster et al. 2020, in press)
The German Archaeological Heritage Network (ArcHerNet) and Its Joint Project „A Future for the Time After the Crisis“, in: K. Saito – T. Sugiyama (eds.), Proceedings & Report of the Conference „Saving the Syrian Cultural Heritage for the Next Generation: Palmyra. A Message from Nara“, organized by Nara Kasugano International Forum, The Executive Committee oft he Silk Road Friendship Project, Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ministry for Foreign Affairs Japan, July 11-14, 2017 (Nara/Japan 2018) 267-176.
Vom „Lachen“ in der griechischen Bildwelt. Dramaturgie und Wirkung, in: T. L. Kienlin – L. C. Koch (eds.), Emotionen – Perspektiven auf Innen und Außen, 2. Kölner Interdisziplinäre Vorlesung „Archäologie und Kulturwissenschaften“ an der Universität zu Köln im Wintersemester 2013/14 (= Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 305) (Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2017) 263-294.
Unity and Individuality. Reflections on Images of Animals from South Syria in the Roman Imperial Period, in: E. B. Aitken – J. Fossey (eds.), The Levant. Crossroads of Late Antiquity. History, Religion and Archaeology (= McGill University Monographs in Classical Archaeology and History, 22) (Brill; Leiden/Boston 2014) 305-331.
„Look at Me.“ Verständigung durch Schmuck und der Körper als Träger von Zeichen. Ein Armfragment der mittleren Kaiserzeit im Nationalmuseum Beirut, in: T. Kienlin (ed.), Die Dinge als Zeichen: Kulturelles Wissen und materielle Kultur, Internationale Fachtagung an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt a.M., 3.-5. April 2003 (= Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 127 (Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2005) 395-407.
