Call for Papers ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2023[Deadline Extension:29 July]

6-10 November

Synergizing for Human Rights: Collaboration between Museums and Communities in the Asia-Pacific Region

In 2010, the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM) was established with the mission to encourage museums to engage with sensitive and controversial human rights issues. The organization advocates that all museums need to deal with difficult and controversial issues within their respective context. Therefore, through sharing, collaboration and learning from each other, more museums can be enabled to engage in human rights practices, taking the initiative to challenge various forms of racial discrimination, prejudice and human rights violations.

The Federation of International Human Rights Museums- Asia Pacific, or FIHRM-AP, was established at the ICOM Kyoto Conference in September 2019. Serving as a platform for strategic collaboration and resource connection, FIHRM-AP can facilitate practices of contemporary human rights by building human rights driven museum values. In 2023, FIHRM-AP will hold its inaugural annual conference under the theme "Synergizing for Human Rights" while appealing to the language and cultural diversity of the Asia-Pacific region. The conference calls for papers from around the world on research, cases, and practices related to human rights issues in museums in the Asia-Pacific region. Discussions on the following sub-topics are encouraged, in the hope of sparkling new perspectives and methods through exchange and sharing to send powerful ripples across the regions.

Here are some of the topics which will be addressed:

Sub-topic 1: Leveraging Museums for Human Rights Practice

The operating context of museums in the Asia-Pacific region varies widely. Museums in some countries attach great importance to human rights issues, while other countries leave most of the human rights advocacy efforts to small-scale cultural organizations and non-profit organizations at the grassroots level. How can we leverage museums as means to channel more attention to human rights issues through practices such as collection, research, exhibition, and education? This subtopic welcomes case discussions on collection research, curatorial practice, and education.

Sub-topic 2: Engage with Communities to Advocate Human Rights

The emphasis on community participation in the new definition of the museum reflects the advent of the community era. How can museums and cultural institutions in the Asia-Pacific region facilitate community involvement to foreground the voices of the people in the discussions on human rights issues instead of expert perspectives?

How can we design a co-creation mechanism which encourages more communities that have been underrepresented in museums to take part? This subtopic welcomes relevant researches and practices with community involvement at its core.

Sub-topic 3: Migration and Human Rights Challenges across Borders

The history of the Asia-Pacific region is complex, with a long-standing history of cooperation and population movement between different regions. This subtopic focuses on racial discrimination and human rights issues arising from migration and immigration in the Asia-Pacific region.

Drawing on the experiences of racial diversity in various countries, it aims to explore issues such as coexistence with immigrants and different cultures as well as migrant workers' rights. What kind of discourse can museums and cultural institutions bring to recognize the rights and voices of "others" in society?

Sub-topic 4: Narratives of Negative Heritage Sites Transformed into Museums and Memorial Institutions

The political landscape in the Asia-Pacific region is marked by a history of colonization, oppression, and dictatorship. Transitional justice has become a crucial issue that many countries in the region currently face.  How can museums reinterpret and showcase historical events related to human rights abuses through documentation and exhibitions?  How can sites of negative heritage left behind by various oppressive regimes be transformed into museums and memorial institutions? What kind of narratives do they present? And in what does these narratives engage with audiences?  This subtopic looks forward to a wide range of new perspectives and multi-layered case studies.

Sub-topic 5: Interdisciplinary Human Rights Collaboration: Synergy and Reverberation

Non-traditional museums and cultural institutions strive to employ interdisciplinary approaches in addressing and responding to diverse human rights issues in society.   This subtopic highlights the effects of cross-disciplinary collaboration through various practices such as art, performance, film, and social media. Together, we explore how to use multiple forms of expression to evoke wider reactions to human rights issues and thus introduce more innovative practices and thinking to museums.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions:

National Human Rights Museum   Shih, Chia-Ju／+886 2-22182438 ext.605／nhrm.fihrmap@gmail.com