ICMEMOHRI 2024 CONFERENCECALL FOR PAPERS
AFRICAN MEMORIAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUMS BUILDINGA MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR PEACEKigali, Rwanda 28th – 31 July 2024

The ICMEMOHRI 2024 conference in Kigali will address decolonization, the role of literatureand graphic novels, and performance as a communication tool in museums and a catalyst
for the traumatic experiences derived from armed conflict and genocide.
We hereby invite researchers, museum professionals and students to present papers on thetopics outlined in this document.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
All submissions must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal orconference. The application format should include:- Name(s) of Author(s) - Affiliation(s), e-mail address(es), full address(es) and phonenumber(s);- Conference session for your submittal;- Title of your paper;- Abstract (300 words maximum);- Biography of the applicant(s) (100 words maximum).
Deadline for proposals: May 6th, 2024
Announcement of accepted proposals: May 20th, 2024
Deadline for Speaker confirmation of participation: June 3rd, 2024
Please email the submission to Massimiliano Azzolini, ICMEMOHRI Secretary, at:secretary.icmemohri@icom.museum
The quality and relevance of the applications will be assessed by the Conference ProgramCommittee.

GRANTS
Limited funds are available for partial grants towards accommodation and travel costs.
Priority will be given to selected participants coming from countries in Categories 3 & 4.

SESSION 1 - DECOLONIZATION IN MUSEUMS
A process of decolonization is currently taking place on several levels worldwide. Within themuseum sector, a growing movement is emerging that is reconsidering and rethinking therepresentation of colonial history and the display of cultural artifacts. The overarching aim isto foster a more inclusive, respectful, and accurate representation of history and culturalheritage. This often includes engaging communities originally affected by colonialism,returning stolen artifacts to their original owners, and reinterpreting artifacts to provide amore balanced and inclusive narrative of history and culture. Visitors to museums are
thereby encouraged to look at the past in a more critical manner. From this perspective,
museums play a vital role in facilitating new insights and understanding. Moreover, they
serve as a platform for addressing trauma and fostering a sense of justice.
Memorial and human rights museums focus on specific events related to persecution, war,
genocide and human rights violations. This session will be a podium for an exchange ofviews and discussions on the theme of decolonization. A process of rethinking colonialism
and handing over the power of reinterpretation to its original owners can lead to fostering
peace, to a more open society with greater social justice, and to reinforcing democratic
processes through citizen engagement and an individual's responsibilities.
The interaction of museums regarding the process of decolonization stimulates
understanding, cooperation, and solidarity. This can be achieved, for example, throughexchanging knowledge, collaborating on exhibitions, joint research projects and expressing
solidarity and support.
1. Return of cultural artifacts: A increasing number of African countries are demanding thereturn of their stolen cultural artifacts transferred to Western museums during the colonialperiod. This theme centers on the repatriation of these artifacts and restoring the direct link
between the heritage and the communities of origin. Although some countries andcommunities demand that their stolen cultural artifacts be returned, many Western museums
are hesitant about handing over these items.
2. Reinterpreting the museum narrative: Both Western and African museums are
considering revising their interpretations of history in their presentations. The effort is toward
a more balanced inclusive representation that does justice to different perspectives andexperiences, including the impact of colonialism, slavery, and other forms of oppression.
Reinterpreting the past to provide a more inclusive and diverse representation can lead toconflicts over how certain events are presented. Decolonization is often politically charged,
particularly when addressing injustices committed during the colonial period. This can create
tensions between governments, communities, and current power structures.
3. Involving communities: Decolonization includes engaging local communities that havebeen historically oppressed or marginalized in museum presentations. This involvement
promotes greater inclusiveness and respect for the cultural traditions and knowledge ofthese communities. One prerequisite for this is the availability of financial resources andappropriate infrastructure.
4. Education and awareness: Museums play a vital role in educating the public about thelegacy of colonialism and the need for decolonization.

SESSION 2 - PERFORMANCEThe 21st century museum is evolving beyond an object-driven setting to a people-centeredmission. Memorial & Human Rights Museums have always strived to aid community healingfrom the trauma of genocide and other acts of injustices against humanity. Such crimes
disrupt the fabric of communities, creating a loss of identity and a loss of loved ones, loss ofsecurity and the known.
This session intends to explore ways in which African museums are or can become safe
spaces for healing. We will look at ways in which the arts, performance in particular,
communicate difficult histories and express traumatic experiences as catalysts for deeper
understanding, reconciliation, and the goals of non-repetition.
We invite presentations no more than 20 minutes long of case studies or abstracts aroundthe following themes:
1. What can museums do, or have done, to help communities recover from traumas andgenocides through the performing arts?
2. Music, dance, oral traditions, spoken words, art therapy and storytelling, and the visualarts provide a platform for healing. By incorporating the performing arts into theirprogramming, can museums in Africa create spaces for communities to recover fromtraumas and genocides, fostering healing and resilience? Share or suggest examples.
3. How can museums play a more active role in conflict resolution, create spaces for open
discussions on contested history and foster peace for a 21st Century Africa… and the world?
Can the experiences in diverse African cultures and societies provide learning prototypes forother countries?
4. How can African museums provide a safe space encouraging people to come and discuss
their experiences as a means of healing, incorporating a process for reconciliation thatprovides a balance on the spiritual, physical, and emotional levels?

SESSION 3 - LITERATURE
It was philosopher Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) who formulated the controversial statement:"To write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric". The apodictically formulated verdict was thesubject of debate for decades and motivated him to provide multiple explanations andmodifications without retracting the central message about the shameful failure of culture in
the face of Auschwitz: "Its disproportion to the horror that has happened and threatens tohappen condemns it to cynicism."Paul Celan's (1920-1970) poetic work is diametrically opposed to this. It is characterized byreflection on language and communication and their ability to preserve and bear witness towhat has been experienced, as well as by the processing of borderline experiences,
particularly the experience of the Holocaust.
The thinking of both men had a significant, if not always obvious, influence on EuropeanJewish museums and memorials. The banality of the monstrously barbaric on the one sideand the power of the word and the expressive possibilities of art on the other have servedand continue to serve as parameters of two possible human extremes, between which thepossibilities and horizons presented by museums also operate, sometimes oscillate.
The question in our session is how literature, performance and narrative art forms also
shape the content, presentation, and storytelling in African museums as they attempt to not
only reflect but also process the various experiences of violence on the African continent.
Are oral traditions, folk tales, slave narratives, poetry, novels, and other forms of African
literatures integrated into museological forms of representation?
Do literary approaches to, or attempts to deal with, themes such as conflicts between pastand present, tradition and modernity, self-determination and heteronomy, resistance, andself-assertion, the individual and the community, politics and development, but also
continuities such as colonialism and imperialism, extremism, violence and overexploitation,
also play a role in the museum? And if so, do they do so as a specific aesthetic factor that isintegrated into the museum narrative? In other words, is such African literature madeaccessible within a museum space? And do (excerpts from) such African literatures enrichmemorial exhibitions as quasi-word objects?
What examples and experiences exist? Which writers already play active roles in African
museums or in African diaspora museums?

SESSION 4 - FROM GRAPHIC NOVELS TO NEW MEDIA"Participation and (self)representation: From Graphic Novels to New Media"
Paul Ricœur's work on memory, history, and narrative, particularly in "Memory, History,Forgetting," emphasizes the significance of visual art in shaping collective memory.
Paul Ricœur's work on the relationship between memory, history and narrative emphasizes
the importance of visual art in shaping an individual memory intervened with a collectivememory through shared narratives in tension.
Similarly, Achille Mbembe's "Necropolitics" highlights the importance of expanding
perspectives beyond Western boundaries, emphasizing memory as a contested terrain
where battles for representation and recognition unfold.
In this sense, visual arts, - from autobiographical comics to new media storytelling areemerging in memorial and human rights museums, supported often by participatory
methodologies. Their potential to tell complex stories and convey emotions in an accessible
and visually striking way, are increasingly accompanying these spaces. Their capacity toincorporate the experiences and longings of victims as protagonists fuel reflection anddebate in the museum sphere, enhancing both their commemorative objectives and their aim
for reconciliation.
This session will be followed by a participatory WORKSHOP and an EXHIBIT.
We would like to invite researchers, museum professionals and artists to submit papers that
explore, among other topics, the following areas of interest:1. Visual narratives of trauma and resistance: How might these formats affect the ways inwhich experiences of violence, trauma and resistance are represented in the museum?
2. Community engagement and co-creation: How can memorial museums andcollaborative arts projects engage affected communities in the production of knowledge andmemory? What challenges and opportunities arise in the process of co-creation?
3. Emerging media and digital technologies: How are new technologies being used tonarrate memory and human rights? What potential do these media have to reach newaudiences and generate empathy?
4. Ethics and responsibility in visual representation: What are some of the ethicalresponsibilities of artists and curators in representing traumatic experiences? How do you
address the possible tensions between authenticity and aesthetics in the visual
representation of violence and human suffering?