CALL FOR SHORT INSIGHT PAPERS: Museums and the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine
Museums & Society - November 2023 issue
The escalation of Russia's war on Ukraine has had a profound effect on museums and cultural workers. While it is too early to draw conclusions regarding the end of the conflict, the editors of Museum & Society seek initial responses for an issue focusing on this topic – short (1500-2000 words) articles. Authors may reflect on the impact of the full-scale invasion on museums, galleries, other exhibitionary sites, and their employees in Ukraine and elsewhere; new challenges, realities, and practices emerging as a result of the war's escalation; and the impact of the invasion on planning activities and institutional discourses. Authors may be based in the Ukraine or in other nations, but articles must be in English. Does the conflict present a call to action for our field? How?
By publishing brief articles in a timely fashion, we seek to serve the profession and to contribute to the conversation around current events. Submissions may address the following topics, among others.
Museums' public/community roles:
- (How) have museums coped with this crisis; to what extent do mitigation plans work? What kinds of aid are most helpful?
- What can/are museums offer(ing) regarding the escalation of the war in the Ukraine?
- How are individual museums adapting and responding to this catastrophe, especially in their roles as public institutions forced to close? What is happening behind the scenes and online?
- (How) are museums working with communities that have been hit particularly hard by the full-scale invasion?
- The escalation of the war has brought to the fore issues related to homelessness, isolation from families and friends, loss of work, death, illness and woundedness, lack of transport, and poverty, among others. How can museums address these social issues?
- The expanded invasion has also brought forward political issues related to nationalism, conscription, ethnic divisions, previous conflicts, and the role of a united Europe, among others. How can museums address these political issues?
- What is the importance of museum activism in this emergent situation, and in what ways is it most helpful?
- Are museums reaching new and different publics as a result of the full-scale conflict?
Specialized museums and audiences:
- What are the implications for independent Ukrainian museums that rely on earned income?
- How can Ukrainian museums reach out to youth during such circumstances? The elderly?
- (How) do military or war museums play distinctive roles during such a crisis?
Conceptualizing the museum during the crisis:
- (How) are museums useful and relevant during this national and international crisis?
- (How) can museums mediate catastrophes and full-scale invasions? How are digital activities engaging with questions of access, ethics, and resistance?
- How do notions of time and space shift with attacks, and what does this imply for the temporality of museums?
Collecting:
- What is happening to existing collections in the Ukraine?
- How can museums ethically collect tangible objects or digital/social media related to the conflict?
- When is the right time to collect war-related materials, given that many are overwhelmed with caring for the wounded or grieving their losses?
- How does collecting in the current circumstances challenge documentation and collecting practices?
Museum staff and cultural workers:
- What are the effects of the full-scale invasion on museum staff and cultural workers?
- How are workers surviving under conflict? How can peers around the world assist them?
- Are staff and cultural workers finding new roles and connections to help them navigate a chaotic situation?
Looking ahead:
- How do we begin to assess the practical and economic effects of the calamity on the cultural sector?
- Should the purpose of cultural institutions be re-evaluated as we prepare for a post-war era?
DEADLINE: January 30, 2023
Submission guidelines are available at: https://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions
Questions may be addressed to: Professor Amy Levin, alevin2@niu.edu.
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Amy Levin PhD
Professor Emerita
Northern Illinois University
De Kalb IL
alevin2@niu.edu------------------------------