Call for Papers, ELIAS Meeting 2025

24 June 2025, Náprstek Museum, Prague

Theme: „African collections – from collecting to sharing and repatriating“

The fascination with faraway places as well as colonial projects led to a collecting rush
among European scientists in the late 19th and early 20th century, resulting in numerous collections in museums and other scientific institutions. For several decades, these European collections led their own lives, far from the place and societies of their origin. In our meeting, we would like to exchange information on the current efforts of these collections to re-establish contact with their origin communities. For the 2025 meeting of ELIAS we welcome contributions on the digitization of collections, on collaborations with African institutions and communities of origin, and on repatriation efforts. In addition to this year’s theme, other current topics from libraries and archives in African Studies are welcome to be presented. Please send in your paper abstracts for in person presentations of 15 minutes with a maximum of 200 words until 15 February to Sophia Thubauville, thubauville@em.uni-frankfurt.de.

For more information on the location see: https://www.nm.cz/en/visit-us/buildings/naprstek-museum-of-asian-african-and-american-culture