Special Journal Issue, Archival Science
Call for Paper Proposals
Special Edition, of Archival Science: Archiving Activism
Editors: Ben Alexander and Andrew Flinn
The proposed Special Edition will explore the myriad connections between contemporary archival practice and activism. This is a topic which although not new is one of rising contemporary significance as archive materials, the institutions which hold them and the many archivists which look after them are increasingly recognized and actively recruited in the cause of political and social justice. This comes at a time when notions of a more active, collaborative and participatory archival practice is gaining currency in the professional archival world.
Article topics may include but are not limited to:
• the ways in which mainstream archives and archivists work to preserve activist struggles of the past (including for instance the civil rights movement in the American South, struggles for equality and against discrimination, radical political movements of the left and right as well as across divided and antagonistic communities);
• how the establishment of archives and the use of history is considered by some activists (including community, feminist, queer, social movement, anti- discrimination and civil rights activists) to be a core component of their politicalactivities either in independently‐controlled and autonomous archives or in partnership with mainstream memory‐sites in universities and elsewhere;
• and finally global moves to ensure preservation and use of the documentation of social and political atrocities (including genocide, human rights abuses and repressive regimes) in Truth and Reconciliation, criminal tribunals and other social justice processes has increasingly involved archivists as key active participants in on-going struggles for Human Rights and Justice.
Please send paper proposals to either Ben Alexander (Benjamin,Alexadner@qc.cuny.edu) to Andrew Flinn (a.flinn@btopenworld.com).
Proposals of no more than 250 words are due to either editor no later than November 15. Select authors will be notified by December 15 and invited to upload a full-length manuscript to Spring Publications, parent publisher for Archival Science. By February 1 a list of final authors will be confirmed. Full and final manuscripts due June 12013 with an expected publication date of Fall / Winter 2013 / 2014.
About the editors:
• Ben Alexander is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College where he also serves as Director of Archival Studies. In addition to his Faculty appointment Alexander is also the Head of Special Collections and Archives for the Queens College Libraries.
• Andrew Flinn is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Studies at University College London. Flinn serves on the University College London International Center for Archives & Records Management Research & User Interests.