CAMOC, ICOM’s International Committee for the Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities was born in Moscow in April 2005 and it is to Moscow we are returning for our tenth anniversary. CAMOC, in collaboration with the Museum of Moscow, is hosting an international conference “Memory and Migration”, a conference on city museums, migrant memory and migrant identity. From the 12th century onwards the capital of Russian has united people of different cultures and histories to create a vast, dynamic and diverse world city.
*Memory and Migration *
Migrants created cities and they continue to give cities shape and meaning.
We, and our parents, may have been born and brought up in the city, but we are all in one way or another the children of migrants, migrants from the rural hinterland or from another country, who found the lure of the city irresistible.
Migrants bring memories of their past, their culture and their habits with them. How do they preserve them in another environment, how do they maintain their identity? They may prefer to be absorbed into their new home, but they still bring a former life with them, and diversity and difference give a city its own unique character. In any event, no city museum can be indifferent to the impact of migration. All this will be at the heart of our conference.
Migration is a vital part of urban history and a subject that touches many different points of heritage, legacy and human rights across the world.
Histories of migration are collected and interpreted in many museums and city museums all around the world. Thanks to the flow of migration, cities are continuously changing. And of course social media now have the power to accelerate this change and to create new ‘places’ for discussion on the city.
City museums preserve and disseminate a city’s memory, yet at the same time migration continually redefines a city’s heritage and narrative. With this in mind, these are the sessions and themes we are proposing:
*Migration and city museums *
In this session the focus will be on the role of migrants from the hinterland, near or far, or from another country in giving shape to the unique characteristics of the city throughout its history.
* City museums as places of debate and social involvement in the changing
city*
How are city museums dealing with migration and memory? What are the issues and the challenges for city museums? What is the potential for city museum involvement? What is the role of migration in the creation, history, culture and development of a city.
*City museum as a Memory Centre and a Place of Inclusion *
What is memory? Who’s memory does city museum represent? Every place in our cities has both collective and individual memory and each develops different narratives. What is cultural exclusion and who is excluded? Is it possible to escape exclusion and what is to be done? This session will focus on different ways of working with memory.
*City Museums – 10 years together *
A number of presentations on exciting and original projects in city museums. Does your museum have a project that it is really proud of? Do you think it can be inspiring and interesting for the CAMOC community? Is the topic something many museums around the world are faced with? It is time to present this project to us, sharing efforts, challenges, weaknesses and strengths with colleagues.
Our detailed programme, including a full range of receptions and excursions in the city, is now being drawn up, but in the meantime we are inviting you to take an active part in the work of our conference.
*To submit a proposal for a presentation:*
Please send us an abstract of no more than 350 words, as well as a short biography, to camoc2015conference@gmail.com (contact person Layla Betti, member of the CAMOC’s Executive Board)
Abstracts should include the following:
Paper title
Name and institution of the author (with ICOM membership number for ICOM
members)
Email address
Any special technical requirements (for example a Mac or PC for accompanying images, video)
As the majority of participants will not be native English speakers, we encourage the use of visual material wherever possible. A short 2-5-minute film or video about a museum in relation to migration would also be welcome.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 30th of April 2015
Announcement of approved proposals: 30th of May 2015
*Registration*
Further details about registration and payment methods will be available from 1st April 2015.
Conference fee
For ICOM members: EUR 150
For non-ICOM members: EUR 180 For students: EUR 80
For accompanying person: EUR 40
Contact person in Russia: Please email Irina Smagina Member of CAMOC’s Executive Board (i.smagina@mosmuseum.ru ) and Polina Zhurakovskaya (
p.zhurakovskaya@mosmuseum.ru) at the Moscow Museum for further information about visa requirements and all practical matters.
You can download the preliminary conference details through the following
link:
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