Katarzyna Puzon is an anthropologist trained at the University of Edinburgh, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and University College London. Her PhD research, which focused on temporality, heritage, and loss in Beirut, Lebanon, laid the foundation for her interdisciplinary approach rooted in anthropology, integrating critical heritage studies, and creative practice. Her work draws on extensive heritage, museum and archival experience, and most recently, she has been a Senior Researcher on the project Towards Sonic Resocialisation at the Humboldt University of Berlin, which focuses on the restitution of sound collections and the colonial legacies of scientific archives.
She co-edited Islam and Heritage in Europe: Pasts, Presents and Future Possibilities (Routledge, 2021) and has published in journals such as the International Journal of Heritage Studies, Review of Middle East Studies, and Museum Anthropology. Her current research investigates how sound archives can surface contentious heritage, fractured histories, and silenced stories, engaging both scholarly and public debates on restitution.
Puzon has contributed to exhibition catalogues, including projects exploring intersections of art and science for the WissenSchaffen exhibition, and on sound archives and linguistic collections for the After Nature exhibition. She also created a sound composition for the Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age at the Hermitage Amsterdam (now H’ART Museum), combining interviews, performances, and soundscapes to critically engage with the legacies of colonialism and representation.
As the Restitution and Reparation Fellow for Spring 2026 at The Africa Institute, she is developing a monograph on restitution through the lens of sound archives. This project integrates multiple case studies within broader debates on heritage justice, with particular focus on Madagascar and the Indian Ocean region. In parallel, she is exploring collaborative approaches through the co-design of a sound installation and developing models for access and provenance.
