[Commlist] Call for papers | Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies | Colonial, anti-colonial and post-colonial museums, collections and exhibitions

  /Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies/| Call for papers on “Colonial,
  anti-colonial and post-colonial museums, collections and exhibitions”

*Editors*: Moisés de Lemos Martins (CECS, University of Minho, 
Portugal), João Sarmento (CECS, University of Minho, Portugal) & Alda 
Costa (Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique)

The encounter between audiences and art objects, in a specific space, 
has a long and complex history. It is a hermeneutical challenge, which 
changes over time, in accordance with the needs of the epoch and the 
objectives of each society and culture. In this encounter between art, 
time and audiences – which is both complex and fleeting – museums, 
collections and exhibitions project different representations of the 
world and narratives of the lives of human communities, which observe 
the standards of a wide array of different, and often conflicting, 
curatorial strategies.

Museums, collections and exhibitions are always regulated by political 
and programmatic objectives and are therefore open to multiple 
interpretations. Museums, collections and exhibitions always observe a 
regime of truth, regardless of whether they are founded by nation 
states, or by revolutionary or counter-revolutionary forces, and whether 
they are in support of the established regimes, or aim to alter the 
established order. This regime of truth is the core condition for the 
possibility of representations that a specific community makes of itself 
and its epoch, while also formulating possibilities of meaning in order 
to help us understand what it means to be human.

In the case of exhibitions, which are organised for pre-defined periods 
of time and which generate more or less strong memories, of pacification 
and connection, or of rupture and withdrawal, the study of surviving 
materials – whether memories, artefacts, catalogues, news or posters – 
although unable to reproduce the actual experience of the exhibitions, 
make it possible to create records of their underlying discourses.

This issue of the /Revista Lusófona de Estudos Culturais/ // Lusophone 
Journal of Cultural Studies/ aims to explore all these dimensions of 
museums, collections and exhibitions – their representations, narratives 
and memories, how they intersect with colonial, anti-colonial and 
post-colonial dimensions, i.e. related to the retrieval, denunciation 
and representation of the subordinate status, and also with the 
legitimation of social movements.

We aim to present studies that take into account the analysis of 
museums, and also of collections and exhibitions of colonial states, 
which also extends to contemporary post-colonial museums and 
exhibitions. We thereby seek to analyse both large-scale state projects, 
in important official sites, as well as more or less obscure exhibition 
in small private galleries, involving a highly diversified range of 
public, private or non-governmental agents.

For this issue of the /Revista Lusófona de Estudos Culturais / Lusophone 
Journal of Cultural Studies/ we will accept contributions on museums, 
collections and exhibitions that question colonial, anti-colonial and 
post-colonial identities and memories. Possible topics of analysis 
include the following:

*The politics of memory**
*What role do museums play in political change? How can museums address 
the legacy of colonialism, dictatorships, genocide, war, and forced 
migrations?
Museums are able to deconstruct established memory-based narratives and 
build new narratives. How can museums relate to activism? How are 
museums inserted in the global culture of memory?

*Collection, curating and representation policies**
*How can we analyse collections and exhibitions in today’s societies? 
How can we represent inconvenient or conflictual backgrounds? How is it 
possible for museums to use collections of the past in order to trace 
the history of the future? What limitations and relevance do museum 
collections have today? What challenges do curators currently face? How 
can curatorial practices influence the public’s educational process?

*The challenges of participation and collaboration**
*How can museums relate to distinct and plural groups, while also 
discussing complex issues with audiences? What are the main 
characteristics of public involvement with the museum? How can museums 
foster debate and find new ways of involving communities and audiences?

Other topics:

– The visual culture of colonialism in museums and exhibitions
– The representation of the /self/ and the /other/ in museums and 
exhibitions
– Travel, tourism and museums
– Museums and Eurocentric exhibitions and narratives
– Slavery museums
– Museums and exhibitions and the redemption of African cultures and history
– Museums dedicated to liberation and independence movements
– Exhibitions and memorialisation processes

*KEY DATES
*Full article submission deadline: May 6, 2020
Editor’s decision on full articles: July 27, 2020
Deadline for sending the full version and translated version: September 
21, 2020
Issue publication date: December 2020

*LANGUAGE
*Articles can be submitted in English or Portuguese. After the peer 
review process, the authors of the selected articles should ensure 
translation of the respective article, and the editors shall have the 
final decision on publication of the article.

*EDITION AND SUBMISSION
*/Revista Lusófona de Estudos Culturais/Lusophone Journal 
of Cultural Studies/ is a peer-reviewed journal that uses a double blind 
review process. After submission, each paper will be distributed to two 
reviewers, previously invited to evaluate it, in terms of its academic 
quality, originality and relevance to the objectives and scope of the 
theme chosen for the journal’s current issue.

Originals must be submitted via the journal’s website 
<https://www.rlec.pt/>. If you are accessing /Revista Lusófona de 
Estudos Culturais/Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies/ for the first 
time, you must register in order to submit your article (here 
<https://rlec.pt/user/register>).

The guidelines for authors can be consulted here 
<https://rlec.pt/about/submissions>.

For further information, please contact: (rlec /at/ ics.uminho.pt) 
<mailto:(rlec /at/ ics.uminho.pt)>

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