45^th ANNUAL ICOFOM SYMPOSIUM

“Taboos in Museology: Difficult issues for museum theory”

What is taboo in museology? How does museological scholarship today perpetuate what has been silenced in the field, particularly such taboos as race, gender, class, orientation, ability, coloniality? How do museums address taboos in their exhibitions? How do museums address these taboos in their staff and community relations? How do/should museums approach topics that their communities would prefer to keep silent, and who decides? Is “taboo” the same as “censored”? Can museology counter cultural hegemony, especially under theocratic or autocratic regimes? What can be done, in museums or museology, to break the taboos?

If any of these questions resonate with you and are part of your research interests, we invite you to submit a paper and take part in ICOFOM’s annual symposium devoted to the topic of taboo in museums and in museology. Amongst the different subtopics that could be looked at are those below:

In Museums: 1) taboos around collection decisions; 2) taboos around community/society relations; 3) taboos around funding inequities, 4) taboos around staffing inequities. 

In Museology: 5) taboos around global participation; 6) taboos around funding inequities; 7) taboos around differing ideologies. 

The workshops of the symposium will be held on the 25^th of August 2022, only in person and without online streaming. However, if you cannot attend, you will still have the opportunity to participate remotely. Please read the Call for Papers for a full list of provocative questions and terms of submission on ICOFOM’s webpage:

https://icofom.mini.icom.museum/publications/icofom-call-for-papers/