Call for Papers

How can museums define new innovative practices, spaces and policies that reflect the challenges of the contemporary processes of globalisation, mobility and migration? This question is being addressed by European Museums in an age of migrations - MeLa (http://www.mela-project.eu/), a 4-year collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities Program (FP7).

MeLa Research Field 3 (http://wp3.mela-project.eu/), composed by international institutions and led by the University of Glasgow, is organising an international conference to identify and explore innovative trans-national and trans-local partnerships, collaborations and policies between European museums, libraries & other public cultural institutions around the themes of European cultural and scientific heritage, migration and integration, and use of ICTs.

What are the experiences and effects of collaboration, partnerships and networks around the core activities of archiving, preserving, displaying history and artefacts, and the associated categories and hierarchies of cultural value and identity? Is it possible to allow more flexible and heterogenic connections of public cultural institutions within the European/Mediterranean space? How are museums, libraries and public cultural institutions presenting themselves and interact with multicultural audiences? What guidelines and policies could be suggested to support networking between European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions around the themes of European cultural and scientific heritage, migration and integration?

Confirmed invited speakers

• Sharon MacDonald (Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester)
• Kathrin Merkle (Head of the Cultural Policy, Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue Division, DG II, Council of Europe) 
• Rebecca Kay and Alison Phipps (Professors at University of Glasgow and convenors of Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network) 
• Agnès Arquez Roth (Directrice réseau et partenariats, Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration) 
• Dr Bernhard Serexhe (Chief Curator of ZKM Media Museum) 
• Anne Marie van Gerwen (Marketing & Communications Manager, Europeana) 
• Katherine Watson (Director of European Cultural Foundation)

Topics

• Case studies on museums, libraries and public cultural institutions collaborating for European integration 
• Operative approaches to multiculturalism, interculturalism, transculturalism in public cultural institutions 
• National and transnational collaboration models: partnerships, cooperation, coordination 
• European cultural policies, migration and mobility 
• Identity, memory and heritage in European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions 
• Studies on European narratives and cultural points of divergence and commonality 
• Contested European cultural and scientific heritages in a post-migratory world 
• Visitor experiences in collaborative projects involving European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions 
• Archiving, preservation and exhibition technologies in relation to migration and mobility 
• Politics of migrating objects, including repatriation 
• Cross border tourism, customs and border policies, including souvenirs and museum replicas

Submissions

Authors are requested to submit a PDF including 500 words abstract and 300 words bio by 16 July 2012, followed by PDF with the camera-ready full paper (max 7 pages) by 14 December 2012. All abstracts and papers must comply with the Ashgate formatting instructions (http://www.ashgate.com/Default.aspx?page=2902) and must be submitted via the EasyChair online submission system at https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=mela2012rf03. An international panel of experts will review the submissions.

Important dates

Abstract and bio submission: 16 July 2012 
Author notification: August 20, 2012 
Conference: December 3-4, 2012 
Camera ready (full paper): December 14, 2012

Conference special sessions

• GRAMNet- Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network (http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/gramnet/) 
• Europeana, portal endorsed by the European Commission providing a single access point to millions European cultural and scientific heritage digital object (http://www.europeana.eu/portal/)

Proceedings

There will be the opportunity to publish a selection of the conference proceedings in 2013, upon the following conditions: all the required materials have been submitted in proper format, materials have not been already published and the paper has been presented in person at the Migrating heritage: networks and collaborations across European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions conference.

Registration 

Conference attendance is free, but advanced online registration is required. Registration will open in September 2012.

Anticipated audience

• Scholars and PhD students in museum studies, cultural studies, social anthropology, sociology of organisations, library and information science, cultural policies, social sciences, human-computer interaction and related areas 
• Practitioners from museums, libraries, public institutions 
• Decision-makers and policy makers 
• Users of cultural institutions and representatives of migrant communities

Conference organising committee

• Perla Innocenti, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow and MeLa RF03 leader 
• Dr John Richards, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow 
• Dr Sabine Wieber, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow 
• Andrew Greg, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow

Consulting partners

• Dept. of Human and Social Sciences, "Orientale" University of Naples 
• Dept. of Industrial Design, Arts, Communication and Fashion (INDACO) - Politecnico di Milano 
• Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) 
• Glasgow Museums

Contact

Contact chairs at mela2012conference@glasgow.ac.uk
Website: http://wp3.mela-project.eu/wp/pages/research-field-03-international-conference