German–Rapanui Entanglements

Groundbreaking material-visual history and ethnography of German–Rapanui entanglements.

This book traces German-Rapanui entanglements from past to present through encounters between scholars, missionaries, institutions and Indigenous actors, and through the material and visual traces—objects, photographs, and texts—that continue to shape knowledge and memory of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Moving beyond limiting Eurocentric frames, it highlights how Rapanui people have actively engaged with German and German-speaking individuals and institutions to (re)shape different practices and discourses of ‘Rapanuiness’.

The chapters bring these dynamics to life: from Bavarian Capuchin activities that reached far beyond conversion, to collecting and exhibiting networks linking Altötting in Bavaria to Rapa Nui; from German efforts to record oral traditions and the 1957 German–Chilean expedition, to long-term archaeological collaborations at Ava Ranga Uka A Toroke Hau.

Written by scholars based in Rapa Nui, Germany, Chile, France, and the United States, the volume shows how Rapanui communities have shifted from being marginalised in the management of their heritage to becoming key agents in its interpretation and future. Together, these studies illuminate three centuries of entanglement—and their powerful resonance today.

Cristián Moreno Pakarati is a historian, independent researcher and founder of Rapanui Pioneers Society in Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui.
Diego Muñoz is an anthropologist and affiliated researcher in the ERC project 'IndiGen' at LMU Munich, Germany, and at the Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie, France.
Philipp Schorch is Professor of Museum Anthropology at LMU Munich, Germany, and an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, UK.