No. 116/2024

Distribution of Nobel Prize winners and top universities according to region 355 5 SOUTH/CENTRAL AMERICA NORTH AMERICA 1 CANADA 17 USA Sources: Nobel Prizes: based on Statista.com. Due to different geographical allocations, deviations may occur in com- parison with other sources. Ranking: https://www. shanghairanking.com/news/ arwu/2023 FOCUS 16 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 116/2024 to come to Europe to see objects and cultural heritage from their own countries.” One example: the famous Brachiosaurus skeleton in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin that comes from Tanzania. “In Tanzania, several things of this kind were discovered. Today, there are hardly any left in the country,” says Ulrike Lindner. “This reflects the imbalance of power between Europe and the former colonies and perpetuates it at the same time.” According to Marleen Haboud, even now, Indigenous knowledge is often not valued but seen through the lens of colonial history. Her criticism concurs with Ulrike Lindner’s observation that structures and practices from colonial times still exist – in academia, too. “To this day, research projects in countries in the Global South often gather things together that are then exploited in the United States or Europe. I think doing this kind of groundwork in generating knowledge is also a consequence of colonialism.” In the last two decades, however, a change in consciousness could be observed. European researchers were becoming increasingly self-critical, reflecting on the sciences’ colonial heritage. Moreover, countries in the Global South were becoming more self-confident, restricting access to their resources and demanding participation in research projects. Colonial history was now also painting a more differentiated picture than it had for a long time. But the process of reflection is still far from over. THERE IS MORE REFLECTION ON THE COLONIAL HERITAGE OF SCIENCE. “