CfP: Children's Museology edited book
Submissions are invited from researchers, curators,
museum practitioners, artists, and other interested parties for an edited book
on the emergent field of Children’s Museology, defined as “the production of
museum content and programming not just for or about children, but also by and
with children in ways that engage them as valued social actors and
knowledge-bearers” (Patterson 2020).
Deadline for submissions: March
30, 2022
Contact email: childrensmuseologyvolume@gmail.com
Link to call: https://carleton.ca/childrensmuseology/call-for-papers-for-an-edited-book/
Editors:
Monica Eileen Patterson
Assistant Director, Curatorial Studies, Institute for
the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture/
Associate Professor, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (Childhood and
Youth Studies)
Carleton University
Ceciel Brouwer
Research Associate
Research Centre for Museums and Galleries
School of Museum Studies
University of Leicester
Focus and key questions
- How can children’s active participation and
contribution foster change in museum practice?
- What are the possibilities and challenges of
bringing child-centred praxis into museology?
- What examples and future possibilities exist for
museums to engage children as valued social agents, knowledge-bearers, and
active contributors rather than mere receivers of museum content and
programming provided for them by adults?
- How can museums better share authority with
children and break from the
adult-dominated status quo?
- What can children’s museology
do? What is the value and potential impact of this work?
For the past several decades, scholars, artists, and
community members have challenged the exclusive traditions upon which museum
practice is based. Calls for a ‘new’ (Vergo 1989), ‘critical’ (Shelton 1990),
and ‘post’ (Hooper-Greenhill 2000) museology have been accompanied by
increasing interventions and demands from members of historically marginalized
communities to democratize and diversify all aspects of museum practice,
including collections, exhibitions, programming, visitorship, staff, and
governance. Through participatory ways of working, much progress has been made
in the ways in which museums engage with difference, who is empowered to
participate, and how museums harness their resources to combat inequality.
Children, however, have rarely been engaged by museums
as collaborators or contributors in substantive, non-hierarchical ways, despite
their increasing visibility as rights holders, global leaders, and impactful
advocates for socio-political change. Outside of the creative spaces of some
children’s museums and a few innovative examples of co-production, most
cultural institutions continue to view children as mere receivers or consumers
of knowledge and programming, or, as Elee Kirk argued, ‘little learners’ rather
than active participants and co-creators. Even when museums include children’s
perspectives and cultural production, they often do so as heavy-handed
interlocutors, exerting a great deal of curatorial authority.
In understanding children to be crucial members of
society who hold tremendous capacity for dialogue, creativity, and innovation,
the proposed volume explores the largely untapped potential of the
contributions that children can make to cultural institutions. It builds on a
body of work that has sought to better understand children’s experiences in
museums and advocates for taking children’s ideas seriously by providing them
with the resources and more direct pathways to participation needed to enrich
museum practice in transformative ways. The book’s focus is not just on the
value that these collaborations may have for children, but, in turn, on the
exciting new possibilities that arise when young people are enabled to reframe
or uncover previously hidden histories, create lasting change in how
institutions relate to their audiences, and forge more inclusive, engaging, and
human-centred museum spaces.
We are particularly interested in examples from the
global south, historically marginalized communities, and
underserved/underprivileged populations. Contributions from BIPOC (Black,
Indigenous, and people of color), LGBTQIA2S+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans,
queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit) folks, and people with
disabilities/disabled people are especially welcome. We seek to include a
diverse set of studies exploring children’s agentive participation in a wide
range of museological sites: from established, well-known galleries and museums
to small, independent, local institutions, and everything in between. We are
also open to submissions that focus on child-centred museological approaches
taking place outside museum walls in vernacular spaces, festivals, community
events, commemorations, pop-up or informal exhibitions, cultural programs, and
beyond. We welcome experimental and critical perspectives, and encourage
contributions that are co-authored with or draw directly on children’s
contributions. Other forms of creative response may also be considered.
The book
aims to make a valuable intervention in several fields including museum
studies, curatorial studies, heritage studies, and child studies. The proposal
will be submitted to Routledge’s Museum Meanings series.
Contributions may explore (but are not
limited to) the following topics:
- Critical reflections on case studies,
methodologies, and theory
- New and old forms of child-centred museological
praxis - including co-creation, co-production and co-design with children
- both in and outside museum spaces including exhibitions, programming,
digital environments, design, and architecture
- Children’s involvement in governance, strategic
decision-making, and institutional change
- Intersectional projects and approaches to
children’s museology
- Insights and innovation around children and
disability, difference, and accessibility
- Curatorial dreams that imagine future curatorial
interventions or projects (Butler and Lehrer 2016)
- Critical curating; curating from the margins
- Social justice, difficult knowledge, and
contested histories
- Ethics, including issues of consent, authorship,
and the negotiation of (institutional) censorship in relation to
children’s contributions
- Perspectives that address current theoretical
debates on agency, standpoint theory, ageism, children’s rights, race and
racism, decolonisation, and curating
- The role of the digital in enabling children and
young people to participate more prolifically and publicly
Proposal Guidelines
Proposals may offer case studies of children’s
museology from specific institutions, exhibitions, programs, or initiatives, or
present methodological approaches, theoretical analyses, curatorial dreams,
personal reflections, or creative works. All museum and gallery types (history,
art, science, children’s, etc.), including non-collecting, cultural, and
community-based institutions may be explored, in addition to sites and events
outside of museum spaces. All ages, from infancy, early childhood, adolescence,
and youth are within our purview. Proposals may be grounded in all disciplines,
historical periods, and geographical locations, and we welcome submissions from
academics, students, museum practitioners from all departments and backgrounds,
designers, curators, artists, writers, educators, or others.
If you are interested in contributing, please send a
Word compatible doc with the information listed below by March 30, 2022 or get
in touch with the editors to discuss your ideas for a chapter at childrensmuseologyvolume@gmail.com.
Your proposal should:
- include a 100-word bio for each author;
- include a working title;
- convey the author’s/authors’ thesis and how the
proposed article would relate to the issue’s theme;
- indicate the approaches, strategies, or knowledge
that readers would take away from the article;
- convey how the article would raise questions or
illuminate larger issues that are widely applicable (especially if the
proposal focuses on a single project);
- take into account that articles will be expected
to provide critical, candid discussions about issues and challenges
Timeline
Abstracts due: March 30, 2022
Invitations to submit full papers will be sent by May
15, 2022
Contact Info:
Monica Eileen Patterson
Assistant Director, Curatorial Studies, Institute for the Comparative Study of
Literature, Art, and Culture/
Associate Professor, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (Childhood and
Youth Studies)
Carleton University
URL: https://carleton.ca/childrensmuseology/call-for-papers-for-an-edited-book/