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Call for Papers: Memory in the Maritime Museum: Objects, Narratives, Identities - special double issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies

Date: 1-September-2009 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Memory in the Maritime Museum: Objects, Narratives, Identities

Editors: Helen Beneki, Dr James P. Delgado and Dr Anastasia Filippoupoliti

We invite papers for a special double issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies, which will explore the following themes related to maritime museums:

• the representation of maritime past in exhibitions;

• the relationship of the preservation of maritime heritage to the local community;

• the re-invention of past (national, regional, local) identities in today's communities through maritime exhibition narratives; and

• the role of maritime activity in creating ethnically and culturally diverse populations in seaports (local communities).

Manpower, tacit knowledge and related material culture traveled across societies, networking humans and ideas. Thus, maritime collections are inscribed with meanings that are embedded in historical circumstances and, consequently, should be treated as having numerous layers upon them, each one with a different interpretation. But what can these collections tell us about the stories of past seafarers and their communities? Are collections and exhibitions of geographically-spread maritime cultures able to support the understanding of challenging concepts, such as that of insularity, or the concept of seafaring and maritime activities in regard to building or modelling a more diverse community? Also, of interest is the impact of maritime activity on international linkages, both economic and cultural. Could maritime collections reveal issues of how sea was perceived by past and contemporary societies?

With this call for papers we welcome a range of submissions on the following themes:

• Theoretical (and interdisciplinary) perspectives regarding the preservation and reconstruction of maritime heritage

• Constructing and representing identities of maritime communities

• Memory in the maritime museum

• Planning exhibitions of maritime history: problems and opportunities

• Case studies on the interpretation of maritime past

• Maritime archaeology in maritime museums

• Maritime collections/exhibitions and communities

• Learning activities and the maritime collection: interpretation issues

• Maritime collections/exhibitions and school groups

• Using maritime collections in research

Please submit an abstract (max 350 words) by 27 November 2009 to the editors (contact below).

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