Inclusive Engagement Practice
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: History
Abstract
London Metropolitan Archives has long been at the forefront of inclusive Engagement and Learning programming, working collaboratively with, and archiving material from, diverse communities across the capital. This has had the effect of enriching and changing the way both the public and professionals look at its collections, as well as prompting more reflective practice. Since the 1990s, calls for more inclusive programming have only grown and become more urgent, especially since the toppling of the statue of slave trade Edward Colston in Bristol and the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. How archives rise to this challenge is one of the most pressing issues faced by the sector today. This PhD by Practice in Public History project seeks to examine and pilot responses to this challenge through the following research questions:
1. How can Engagement and Learning programming at LMA best serve the needs of communities engaged in history-making that have been traditionally underrepresented in the archival profession and collections?
2. What is the role of Engagement and Learning professionals in developing collaborative relationships with underrepresented communities and facilitating their engagement with the archive?
3. How can Engagement and Learning professionals balance the need to provide bespoke spaces for underrepresented communities with bringing these voices and lived experiences into the mainstream of an archive's work?
4. How can digital and artistic approaches help engage and represent new and wider audiences while remaining anchored in the evidential and material nature of archive collections?
The student, an Engagement and Learning Officer at LMA, will examine these questions through a review of contemporary public history, archive and museum practice, literature, and theory; c.20 interviews with archive and museum professionals and community representatives; and, based on this work, the development and evaluation of a portfolio of twelve experimental community engagement events and activities, co-devised with community representatives.
Iterative and reflexive, this programme (which could include community workshops on co-curation; diverse histories educational resources; community digital installations; or creative responses to LMA collections, or the gaps in these collections) will evolve over the course of the project in response to feedback from community users and professionals and culminate in resources and skills-sharing opportunities to enhance sector practice.
The programme will include three co-created activities each with four high priority engagement audiences: Black and Global Majority communities, the LGBTQ+ community, users with disabilities, and working-class communities. To ensure the practice developed is sustainable, replicable, and scalable, the activities will be low-cost, with the activity integrated into and resourced by LMA's existing Engagement and Learning programme.
The outputs of the project will include a 40,000-word reflective thesis; the events and activities themselves (the plans, visual and written evidence, and evaluation reports of which will form part of the practice portfolio); case studies, toolkits and guides for museums and archives to be hosted and promoted by LMA; and skills-sharing symposia hosted at LMA; along with papers at appropriate academic and archive sector conferences.
1. How can Engagement and Learning programming at LMA best serve the needs of communities engaged in history-making that have been traditionally underrepresented in the archival profession and collections?
2. What is the role of Engagement and Learning professionals in developing collaborative relationships with underrepresented communities and facilitating their engagement with the archive?
3. How can Engagement and Learning professionals balance the need to provide bespoke spaces for underrepresented communities with bringing these voices and lived experiences into the mainstream of an archive's work?
4. How can digital and artistic approaches help engage and represent new and wider audiences while remaining anchored in the evidential and material nature of archive collections?
The student, an Engagement and Learning Officer at LMA, will examine these questions through a review of contemporary public history, archive and museum practice, literature, and theory; c.20 interviews with archive and museum professionals and community representatives; and, based on this work, the development and evaluation of a portfolio of twelve experimental community engagement events and activities, co-devised with community representatives.
Iterative and reflexive, this programme (which could include community workshops on co-curation; diverse histories educational resources; community digital installations; or creative responses to LMA collections, or the gaps in these collections) will evolve over the course of the project in response to feedback from community users and professionals and culminate in resources and skills-sharing opportunities to enhance sector practice.
The programme will include three co-created activities each with four high priority engagement audiences: Black and Global Majority communities, the LGBTQ+ community, users with disabilities, and working-class communities. To ensure the practice developed is sustainable, replicable, and scalable, the activities will be low-cost, with the activity integrated into and resourced by LMA's existing Engagement and Learning programme.
The outputs of the project will include a 40,000-word reflective thesis; the events and activities themselves (the plans, visual and written evidence, and evaluation reports of which will form part of the practice portfolio); case studies, toolkits and guides for museums and archives to be hosted and promoted by LMA; and skills-sharing symposia hosted at LMA; along with papers at appropriate academic and archive sector conferences.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Matthew Smith (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Thomas Furber (Student) |