Call for contributions ‘Decolonising university collections? Challenges, issues and perspectives’
The Musée L is issuing a call for contributions for the first issue of its new scientific journal, ‘Decolonising university collections? Challenges, issues and perspectives’. Researchers, professionals, students, and collectives are invited to reflect on the colonial legacies of universities and the specific nature of their collections. Selected proposals will contribute both to the discussions during the study days and to the publication of the inaugural issue.
The Musée L, UCLouvain’s university museum, is launching a new open-access online scientific journal dedicated to university collections and museums: UniMusea – Research and Practices on University Collections. Initially, the journal will be published every two years, focusing on a theme that reflects the museum’s research priorities. The aim of this journal is to publish original, unpublished contributions devoted to research on university collections and/or museum practices. In addition, the journal wishes to include and involve people who do not come from a traditional academic background: artists, museum professionals, representatives of institutions, collectives and civil society associations.
The first issue will be edited by Marion Bertin and Marino Ficco, with the support of Professors Charlotte Langohr, Ralph Dekoninck and Marie-Sophie de Clippele. This first issue will be devoted to debates and reflections on the decolonisation of university collections. This proposal is part of a process initiated by the Musée L to study collections originating from a colonial context to rethink museography and museum practices. Indeed, the Musée L holds several objects from former colonies and/or acquired in contexts of occupation or oppression.
This call for papers is linked to two study days organised by the Musée L on 8 and 9 October 2026 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), entitled ‘Decolonising university collections? Challenges, issues and perspectives’. They will be accessible in hybrid mode: by videoconference and in person. We invite the authors of the selected contributions to speak at these study days. Posters, round tables, artistic performances and other moments of reflection are currently being prepared. The detailed programme will be published in the first half of 2026.
