This conference is part of a Franco-German research programme covering the interlinked history of ethnology in France and Germany at the turn of the twentieth century. This programme is led by two main partners: the Centre Georg Simmel (UMR 8131 CNRS/EHESS) and the Frobenius-Institut at Goethe University Frankfurt. It studies the political issues of ethnological knowledge and practices and is part of a series of conferences run since February 2014 and follows on from the conference held at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin in March 2016 on the theme of "Caves: Palaeontology, Philology and Anthropology (1800-2015)".

It also ushers in the conference scheduled for March 2017 in Dakar on "African mediations in the construction and appropriation of ethnological knowledge".

The aim is to study the interlinked history of the constitution of ethnological knowledge between France and Germany and the ethnological concepts and institutions established on either side of the Rhine, from expedition logistics to the showcasing of their results in museums, raising heritage, artistic and politic issues all at once. By highlighting the interactions and interdependencies between different national frameworks, this analysis allows for a change of scale and the transition to concepts, disciplines and networks of stakeholders, all subjects left in the shadow of the comparative history of ethnology.