Tag: CFP

CfP: The New Museum Paradigm: Shifting Representations of Empire at Museums and Art Galleries in the UK

Abstract Deadline: 21st June 2019

Provisional Date of Symposium: September 20-21st 2019

Location: University of Sussex

Please E-mail abstracts to postcolonialheritage2019@gmail.com 

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. Please include a short bio of no more than 150 words, along with your university affiliation.

It is widely held that the chronological development of ‘universal’ museums and their collections imitate the contours of imperial history. In recent years, this claim has led many museums in Europe and across the world to reconfigure their focus, appearing as places more inclusive of cultural diversity, in an open desire to move away from their colonial roots.
In Britain, the beginnings of this phenomenon can be traced back to the late 1980s, when, fuelled by the discourse of multiculturalism, museums began to re-engage with histories and legacies of Empire, not least because communities that had come to Britain as citizens of Empire in large numbers in the late-1940s and 1950s, and their descendants, began to make demands for better representation both politically and culturally. More recently, the commemoration of the bi-centenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in 2007, which occurred in a milieu of memory and museum booms, marked a turning point in how museums use memory to engage and negotiate the imperial past.


In this context, collections and their interpretative methodologies are being redefined, leading to re-readings of historical narratives and to the normalisation of curatorial settings appealing to emotions, which sometimes make use of artistic methodologies. Exhibition projects thereby become sites of formation of utopian narratives in which knowledge of the past can be used to shape better presents and futures. In this, museums have become increasingly reliant on external sources – such as artists or communities – to provide the critical work necessary to redefine narratives, interpretations and methodologies. This introduction of multiple perspectives through a collaborative process leads to museums incorporating memory and personal testimony to interpret the history and legacies of the empire from a subjective perspective. While the application of these new strategies have had mixed success, this represents an important epistemic shift away from the primacy of the curatorial voice and the object in creating visual, textual and aural representations of colonial history towards the opening up of the museological process which can be seen as part of decolonsing the museum and the art gallery.


We welcome papers concerned with this new museum paradigm as it relates to representations of empire, colonialism, and slavery; principally, when, how, and why have these shifts taken places across museums and art galleries in the UK? Additionally we are interested in themes on the politics of display and repatriation, museums and migration in a postcolonial age, innovative museum practices towards decolonial futures, museums and public ‘postcolonial’ discourse, Visitors and the postcolonial museum, exhibition and collection histories, museums, art and politics, the role of art in memory-oriented exhibitions, decolonizing collections, city/local museums and representations of Empire & colonialism and more.

For more information and details please see: https://phrg2019.home.blog/2019/05/09/cfp-the-new-museum-paradigm-shifting-representations-of-empire-at-museums-and-art-galleries-in-the-uk/

Hello!

It gives me great pleasure to launch the CHASE Student Committee for Action and Communication’s Blog.

For more information about our Committee members and how to get involved, please see the ‘About Us’ Tabs. We are always seeking new members and ways to interact with CHASE funded students.

Our aims are to showcase the experiences of all CHASE students and present their views written in their own words on issues that matter to them. As well as the academic networking side of academia, we’re all doing a PhD and there’s lots we can learn from each other. We want the blog to be a dynamic display of the diversity of experiences and talent within CHASE, and to showcase all of the exciting happenings across the Consortium. The blog will be hosted on the CHASE website and will publish one post on the last Tuesday of each calendar month.

We are seeking CHASE-funded contributors who would be interested in getting involved in the following:

 

  • ‘A day in the life’ – a Q+A style post designed to represent the day to day experiences of PhD candidates across CHASE and how there is no ‘one size fits all’
  • ‘Getting to know you’ – in a similar style to above but a chance to introduce yourself and your research interests to the cohort and forge new links and networks.
  • Alumni/post viva and graduation Q+A – a chance to reflect on your PhD experience
  • Posts dealing with diversity in its most intersectional sense – this can revolve around events such as Black History Month, LGBT Month etc (but this is not essential).
  • Updates from the different CHASE groups that have been set up such as the Feminist Network, in order to foster a collaborative relationship.
  • Informal reviews of theatre shows, exhibitions or ‘things to do’ which might be of broad interest to students across CHASE.

 

It must be noted that the above is not a prescriptive list and we welcome submissions on a wide topic of themes, providing they meet with our style guide [link].

There is no fixed deadline for submissions. Please send your draft posts to chasesc233@gmail.com. If you are interested in our ‘getting to know you’, alumni Q+A or ‘a day in the life’ feature, please email us for the pre-set questions.