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MUSEUMS AND HARMONIOUS SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS AS RECORDERS
OF CULTURAL AND NATURAL
COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE
UMAC's 10th International Conference, in
cooperation with CIPEG
(International Committee for Egyptology)
7th - 13th November 2010, Shanghai, China,
within the ICOM General
Conference
General information:
http://www.icom2010.org.cn/icomwbs/webpages/en/index.jsp
As university museums, we have long been charged
with the responsibility
for preserving, studying, and making accessible
to scholars and the
public, collections of all kinds. In many cases,
our collections are the
result of decades, or even centuries, of
important university research,
excavations, or expeditions. Our faculties have
collected everything
from rare biological and mineral specimens to
lithics and other cultural
artifacts, to fine works of art. Most often,
their collections end up in
our university museums.
As a result, our artifacts, specimens, or works
of art may be from
cultures that are remote from us in time and
location. They also may
represent communities worldwide that may be very
different from those
that surround us today. Our collections
sometimes are the unique records
of life and cultures that no longer exist. They
may record ways of
thinking that are very different from the ways
of the 21st century.
Frequently, there are scholars and members of
the public who recognize
the importance of our collections to record
cultural and natural
communities worldwide. In other situations, our
collections are
endangered by the fact that the public may not
be interested and today's
scholars may see little value to their current
research in our
collections. Younger people, obsessed by
technology and social
networking may not yet recognize the value of
historical collections,
and health and financial issues overwhelm some
in the older generation
of the public, who might be expected to resonate
with historical
collections. Yet, museums and collections are
about preservation,
research, and interpretation, not about fads in
scholarship or
popularity with the public.
In today's society, there are many questions
about the collections in
our university museums. What is the identity of
our collections? Do they
record the cultural and natural communities
worldwide? Why are our
collections important? What do they teach us in
the 21st century? What
are the best ways we can preserve our
collections and promote research
and public understanding of them? Do university
museums and collections
have a special responsibility to preserve
extinct or rare life forms,
cultures, or ways of thinking? How do we do
this? What is our
responsibility to collections that today may be
seen as elite, distant,
or no longer relevant? How have you dealt with
these kinds of
collections, in terms of preservation, research,
or presentation? What
are the special problems of these kinds of
collections? How can they be
made relevant to today's students, scholars and
public? These are some
of the questions we hope our conference will
address.
Call for Papers
UMAC and CIPEG are currently inviting
submissions for oral papers and
poster presentations focusing on the
Conference's theme Museums and
Harmonious Society or sub theme University
Museums and Collections as
Recorders of Cultural and Natural Communities.
Papers may be presented in three forms:
a) 15 minute formal talks
b) 10 minute informal 'experiences'
c) posters (to be confirmed by ICOM China)
Authors of papers will be asked to participate
in a discussion session
following the presentation. The language of the
conference will be English.
If you would like to offer a paper, please send
an abstract (in English)
to: Ing-Marie Munktell, Chair of the 2010 Review
Committee,
umac@gustavianum.uu.se, and cc: Cornelia Weber,
UMAC Chair,
chair@umac.icom.museum.
Abstracts will be accepted electronically until
March 31, 2010. If you
wish to present a paper please supply us with
the following information:
- Title of submitted paper
- Type of paper: 15 minutes, 10 minutes or
poster
- Name(s) of Author(s)
- Affiliation(s) & full address(es)
- Email, phone & fax of corresponding author
- Abstract in English (not to exceed 300 words)
- Support equipment required
All submissions will be considered by the Review
Committee who will
assess each abstract for relevance to the theme
and clarity of ideas and
expression.
Authors of papers accepted will be asked to give
UMAC the right to
publish the paper on UMAC's website and in the
conference proceedings
University Museums and Collections Journal
4/2011
(http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/umacj/).
Further information will be provided on UMAC's
website:
http://umac.icom.museum
Cornelia Weber, UMAC Chair,
chair@umac.icom.museum
Claire Derriks, CIPEG Chair,
claire.derriks@musee-mariemont.be