Call for papers ‘Indigenous Heritage in Dispute’ (Vol. 23, 2027)
Recognition of indigenous cultural heritage is currently one of the most active areas of public memory policy, linking territory, safeguarding, oral traditions, and disputes over recognition. Over the past two decades, ethnographic museums, systems for recording intangible heritage and professional narratives about ethnographic collections have been scrutinised with regard to authority over collections, indigenous authorship, and the effective participation of indigenous peoples in decisions relating to safeguarding. Recent scholarship demonstrates a shift in focus from the technical preservation of cultural assets to discussions about who controls the documentation, exhibition and access to collections and territories of indigenous significance. This scenario requires a closer look at debates on indigenous authorship, shared curatorship, and the limitations of legal and administrative heritage designation categories. At the same time, the aim is to encourage greater representation of indigenous authors and regional diversity in national academic output contributing to this debate.
This special issue brings together unpublished research on belonging, materiality, territory and rights relating to indigenous heritage, engaging with issues within the scope of the journal Patrimônio e Memória (Unesp/Cedap). The minimum qualification required for authors is a Master's degree.
Thematic areas:
- Indigenous territory as heritage: belonging, worldview and conflicts over territorial recognition.
- Ethnographic and indigenous museums: self-representation, shared curatorship and the repatriation of collections.
- Indigenous intangible cultural heritage: documentation, safeguarding and rights.
- Historiography and Indigenous authorship: a decolonial re-examination of narratives.
- Public heritage policies and indigenous participation in the shared management of cultural assets.
- Intersections between indigenous heritage and socio-environmental changes.
Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2027.
Guidelines for authors: see the link to the formatting guidelines for the journal Património e Memória.
Publication is rolling, following approval of the manuscript.
