call for articles: Decolonizing Ethnographic Museums (Urban People: Special Issue)

call for articles: Decolonizing Ethnographic Museums (Urban People: Special Issue)

This special issue, published by Urban People, seeks to explore the entangled histories of imperialism and colonialism in the region, shedding light on the challenges faced by museums with collection contexts related to the Habsburg, Prussian, and Tsarist empires.

DECOLONIZING ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS: PROVENANCE RESEARCH AND RESTITUTION POLITICS IN CENTRAL, EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE

This special issue, published by Urban People, seeks to explore the entangled histories of imperialism and colonialism in the region, shedding light on the challenges faced by museums with collection contexts related to the Habsburg, Prussian, and Tsarist empires.

For this special issue, we welcome submissions on decolonizing ethnographic museums with a focus on provenance research and restitution politics in Central, Eastern, and Southern European contexts.

We welcome papers emphasizing the following themes:

- Collections shaped in contexts of internal colonization and/or collections shaped by empires not directly involved in overseas colonies

- Challenges and opportunities encountered in provenance research in the above contexts

- Museum collaborations and networking across the region of Central, Eastern and Southern Europe

- The institutional role of curators, provenance researchers, museum directors, and museum educators in shaping discourses on decolonization and in engaging in provenance research and restitution activities themselves, especially in regard to “difficult” or “unresolved” cases

- The roles that indigenous activists and researchers, as well as contemporary artists and artistic researchers, play in decolonizing museums

- Historiographies of decolonizing museums and collections in these regions

- Legal approaches to decolonization processes of museums and collections in these regions

Authors are encouraged to contribute original research, theoretical analyses, case studies, comparative studies, or critical reflections on these and related topics.

Submission Guidelines

- The journal publishes academic papers (6,000–9,000 words), reviews, and event reports (up to 3,000 words)

- Creative and experimental submissions such as photo essays, formats with forum discussions, and multimodal ethnography are also welcome

- Please submit an abstract of approximately 250–300 words delineating the scope and aims of the article, along with a short biographical note on the author.

Submit your abstracts (250-300 words) to melanie.sindelar@fhs.cuni.cz by 11th September 2023.

Review Process

Articles, review articles, and essays submitted to the journal are subject to a double-blind peer review process, which may include one or two rounds of evaluation. Manuscripts are treated as confidential documents during this process. Submissions will be evaluated based on their fit with the described theme, but contributions outside this scope are also welcome as long as they relate to the topic.

Important Dates:

- Call for Papers Release: July 2023

- Deadline for Abstracts: 11th September 2023

- Notification of Acceptance: mid-October 2023

- Final Manuscript Due: 29th February 2024

- Publication Date: September 2024

Please ensure all submissions adhere to the journal’s formatting guidelines, including the citation style and referencing requirements. Detailed formatting guidelines can be found on the journal website: https://urbanpeople.cuni.cz/LMENG-21.html.

For informal queries to discuss your ideas, please contact melanie.sindelar@fhs.cuni.cz

Please access the full call for papers through this link: https://tarantula.ruk.cuni.cz/AKTUALITY-19378-version1-up_cff_eng_2024.pdf.