HomeThe Semiophores of Slaveries and Trades
The Semiophores of Slaveries and Trades
Les sémiophores des esclavages et des traites
7th “Rencontres atlantiques”
VIIe rencontres atlantiques
Published on mardi, septembre 04, 2018
Summary
Ten years after the opening of the “Bordeaux, the Atlantic trade and slavery” permanent exhibition at the Musée d'Aquitaine, this 7th edition of the Bordeaux Rencontres atlantiques offers to examine the material traces of slaveries and trades in terms of semiophores. Organized by the International Centre for Research on Slavery and Post-Slavery (CIRESC) and the Musée d'Aquitaine, it proposes to study the processes and forms of rewriting and transmission of the history of enslavment and trades based on the gestures involved around and from museum collections and their exhibitions.
Announcement
Since 2007, the Musée d'Aquitaine and the International Centre for Research on Slavery and Post-Slavery (CIRESC) have organized every two years, an international symposium as part of the commemoration of May 10 on the memory of the slave trade, slavery and their abolition.
Argument
Ten years after the opening of the "Bordeaux, the Atlantic trade and slavery" permanent exhibition at the Musée d'Aquitaine, this 7th edition of the Bordeaux Rencontres atlantiques offers to examine the material traces of slaveries and trades in terms of semiophores. The notion, developed by Krzysztof Pomian (1987) and then taken up again by François Hartog (2003), makes it possible to apprehend the processes of patrimonialization of the material traces of the past and to inscribe them in their historicity, to question their silences and the multiple forms of rewriting.
Fred Wilson's Mining the Museum (1992) is a paradigmatic example of this dynamic process. By intervening in the exhibition space, the artist builds a new analytical framework from which he compares the historical collections of the Maryland Historical Society with the slavery-making past of that state. This artistic gesture underlines the plasticity of the meanings and values given to objects as soon as they are taken in processes of patrimonialization.
The Semiophores symposium on slaveries and trades proposes to study the processes and forms of rewriting and transmission of the history of enslavment and trades based on the gestures involved around and from museum collections and their exhibitions. It will be a question of being attentive to the speeches that these collections come to signify in order to simultaneously observe the faults, the silences, the reappropriations, even the forms of instrumentalization. It will also be necessary to observe the semantic shifts and changes in social, ethical and economic values of these material traces, taking into account the specific historical contexts in which they are elaborated and exposed. Finally, the methods of production (by museums, artists, associations), circulation and reception of these objects exhibited by different so-called "target" audiences constitute a third study element of this symposium.
This call is addressed to historians, anthropologists, curators, exhibition curators, museographers, archivists and artists. The contributions will develop synchronic or diachronic analyses of the different historical regimes of the collections linked to the history of trafficking and slavery.
Terms of submission
Abstracts (300 to 500 words) in English or French, accompanied by a short CV (one page maximum), should be sent
no later than 25th November 2018
to the following address: rencontresatlantiques2019@gmail.com
Dates and venue : 9th and 10th May 2019 in Bordeaux
Organizing Committee
- Christian Block (Musée d'Aquitaine)
- Myriam Cottias (CNRS/LC2S/CIRESC)
- Céline Flory (CNRS/Mondes Américains/CIRESC)
- François Hubert (Musée d'Aquitaine)
- Katia Kukawka (Musée d'Aquitaine)
- Anna Seiderer (Université Paris 8)
Scientific Committee
- Florence Alexis (National Committee for the Memory and History of Slavery)
- Ana Lucia Araujo (Howard University)
- Annette Becker (University Paris Ouest / IUF)
- Emmanuelle Chérel (Ecole des Beaux-arts de Nantes)
- Christine Chivallon (CNRS / Passages)
- Gaetano Ciarcia (CNRS / IMAF)
- John W. Franklin (National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington)
- Krystel Gualdé (Nantes History Museum)
- Didier Houenoude (Abomey Calavi University)
- Jean-François Manicom (Liverpool International Slavery Museum)
- Paul Tichmann (Slave Lodge, Cape Town)
Subjects
- History (Main subject)
- Zones and regions > Africa
- Zones and regions > America
- Mind and language > Representation > Heritage
- Periods > Early modern
- Periods > Modern
- Zones and regions > Europe
Places
- 20 Cours Pasteur
Bordeaux, France (33)
Date(s)
- dimanche, novembre 25, 2018
Keywords
- traite, esclavage, musée, exposition, muséographie, muséologie, patrimonialisation, transmission, sémiophore
Contact(s)
- Katia Kukawka
courriel : k [dot] kukawka [at] mairie-bordeaux [dot] fr - Anna Seiderer
courriel : seiderer [dot] anna [at] gmail [dot] com
Reference Urls
Information source
- Katia Kukawka
courriel : k [dot] kukawka [at] mairie-bordeaux [dot] fr
To cite this announcement
« The Semiophores of Slaveries and Trades », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on mardi, septembre 04, 2018, https://calenda-formation.labocleo.org/473299
