Call for Papers: Museum International: Provenance Research in Museums

Museum International Vol. 77 Nº 307-308 'Provenance Research in Museums: Principles, Practices, and Possibilities'

Call for Papers

ICOM is preparing an issue of Museum International on Provenance Research in Museums: Principles, Practices, and Possibilities (Vol. 77 Nº 307-308). All proposals submitted will be assessed for suitability, and if chosen, the subsequent articles will go through a double-blind peer review process. The issue is expected to be published, in collaboration with Taylor &Francis/Routledge, at the end of 2025.

The abstract submission deadline is 20 January 2025.

We welcome submissions and proposals that highlight practical examples of initiatives that include multiple perspectives in undertaking provenance and object biography research in museums, both in the Global North and South. This issue seeks to unpack provenance research beyond its common conception as the tracing of ownership and legal history of objects, towards a nuanced understanding of underlying collecting histories and historical contexts of acquisitions. We interpret 'objects' and 'collections' in a broad sense to refer to both cultural and natural history collections as a way of challenging the existing binary division between nature and culture in museums.

PROVENANCE RESEARCH OF MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Due to the historical circumstances surrounding their acquisition, many objects do not have adequate provenance information that can allow us to trace who they belong to and how they entered museum collections. The question then is: How can we trace the provenance of objects that were amassed in the past, and placed in museums as mundane, frozen in time and lifeless objects without adequate information and context? We are looking for practical and theoretical contributions that highlight approaches guided by shared authority, truth-telling and accountability as methods of conducting provenance and object biography research. Contributions can also address collaborative approaches towards the sensitive treatment of ancestral remains and sacred objects in museum collections, including those acquired during colonial times that were looted, appropriated, and dislocated from descendant communities because of historical violence and unequal exchanges. We welcome contributions that consider provenance research to be a collaborative process where institutions work together with diaspora and descendant communities.

Overall, this issue seeks to highlight the importance of undertaking comprehensive provenance and biographical research as a practice that aids knowledge production prior to any forms of collecting and return.

We welcome contributions that address the following non-exhaustive list of topics:

• Theoretical approaches to understanding provenance research and restitution
• Practical approaches in conducting provenance research
• Collecting histories and colonial contexts
• Unprovenanced and unaccessioned (non-inventoried) collections in museums
• New technologies in provenance research
• The emerging role of provenance researcher in museums
• Collaborative provenance and biographical research with diaspora and originating communities
• Lived experiences and community agency in reinterpreting meanings of museum collections while working on provenance
• Power dynamics and inequalities in collaborative provenance and object biography research
• Sensitive treatment of ancestral remains and sacred objects in museum collections
• Accountability, truth-telling and openness in carrying out provenance and object biography research
• Towards alternative ways of being (ontology) and doing (axiology) provenance research
• Neocolonial collaborative provenance and object biography research.

Submission process

Abstracts of between 250 and 300 words, written in English, French or Spanish, should be submitted for selection to [email protected] in a Word (.doc) document (if you do not receive confirmation of receipt within 2 weeks, it is possible that your e-mail did not reach us - do not hesitate to write to us again).

The abstract submission deadline is 20 January 2025.

Contributions will be on a voluntary basis.

The following information should be included with the abstract:

• Title of submitted paper
• Name(s) of author(s)
• Professional background

The abstracts received will be examined on a blind review basis by a panel of experts on the topic.

Museum International is published in English. However, proposals in the other two official languages of ICOM (French and Spanish) will also be considered. If your abstract is selected, we will provide guidelines for your full article, and you'll have approximately two months to complete it. You may also submit your full article in either English, French or Spanish.

Abstract structure for Museum International articles:

An abstract is a summary of the journal manuscript.

It should be no longer than 250-300 words (excluding selected references) and provide a succinct overview of the article. Please send your abstract in a Word document. The abstract should be read as a standalone document and the document should not contain images or footnotes.

The abstract should read as a standalone document.

Abstracts sent to Museum International should include the following sections (not necessarily presented in this way, but all elements need to be included):

1/Introduction: one or two short sentences to describe the overall topic dealt with in the article and provides background to the study.

2/Research question(s)/Critical issue(s): explains the key research question or critical issue, by stating the problem addressed. It should also highlight the gap in existing research on the topic.

3/Innovation: explains the approach to the research question/issue, and the new perspective adopted.

4/Methodology: explains how the research was carried out (e.g. case studies, interviews, etc.) or the means used to address the critical issue.

5/Conclusion: outlines the impact of the research or the outcome of addressing the critical issue, and why the findings/outcomes are important.

6/Selected references: a selection of the references that will be cited in the article (only your main sources, maximum of 15).

7/Keywords (maximum of 5).

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