Migrating heritage

International Conference, University of Glasgow, UK, 3-4 December 2012

MeLa | Research Field 03 International Conference

The Conference was organised by HoA - School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow as part of EC-funded FP7 project European Museums in an Age of Migrations (MeLA).

How can museums define new innovative practices, spaces and policies that reflect the challenges of the contemporary processes of globalisation, mobility and migration? This question is being addressed by European Museums in an age of migrations - MeLa a 4-year collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities Program (FP7).
MeLa Research Field 3 composed by international institutions and led by the University of Glasgow, is organising an international conference to identify and explore innovative trans-national and trans-local partnerships, collaborations and policies between European museums, libraries & other public cultural institutions around the themes of European cultural and scientific heritage, migration and integration, and use of ICTs. What are the experiences and effects of collaboration, partnerships and networks around the core activities of archiving, preserving, displaying history and artefacts, and the associated categories and hierarchies of cultural value and identity? Is it possible to allow more flexible and heterogenic connections of public cultural institutions within the European/Mediterranean space? How are museums, libraries and public cultural institutions presenting themselves and interact with multicultural audiences? What guidelines and policies could be suggested to support networking between European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions around the themes of European cultural and scientific heritage, migration and integration?

Keynote speakers include:

• Sharon MacDonald (Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester)
• Rebecca Kay and Alison Phipps (Professors at University of Glasgow and convenors of Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network)
• Agnès Arquez Roth (Directrice réseau et partenariats, Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration)
• Dr Bernhard Serexhe (Chief Curator of ZKM Media Museum)
• Katherine Watson (Director of European Cultural Foundation) 

The issues discussed included:

• Case studies on museums, libraries and public cultural institutions collaborating for European integration;
• Operative approaches to multiculturalism, interculturalism, transculturalism in public cultural institutions;
• National and transnational collaboration models: partnerships, cooperation, coordination;
• European cultural policies, migration and mobility;
• Identity, memory and heritage in European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions;
• Studies on European narratives and cultural points of divergence and commonality;
• Contested European cultural and scientific heritages in a post-migratory world;
• Visitor experiences in collaborative projects involving European museums, libraries and public cultural institutions;
• Archiving, preservation and exhibition technologies in relation to migration and mobility;
• Politics of migrating objects, including repatriation;
• Cross border tourism, customs and border policies, including souvenirs and museum replicas.

MeLA Research Field 03 Conference organising committee

Perla Innocenti, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow and MeLa RF03 leader
Dr John Richards, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow
Dr Sabine Wieber, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow
Andrew Greg, History of Art, CCA, University of Glasgow