#CFP 4: Material Cultures of Mining, 15.06.19, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (Germany)

#reposting:
https://socialhistoryportal.org/news/articles/309707

Call for papers, deadline 15 June 2019

December 5-7, 2019, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (Germany).

The conference aims to discuss new approaches in the study of material culture and see whether and to what extent such approaches can be usefully applied to the history of mining. We intend to encourage a cross-disciplinary debate among historians of mining, technology and science as well as contemporary historians, museologists and archaeologists.

Contributions should potentially focus on the following themes:

• Objects of knowledge:
  Mining objects are part and parcel of mining related vocational training and education, e.g. the use of geological and technical models in mining colleges and schools. At the same time, the history of their subsequent uses, storage and collection histories can shed light on changing allocations of meaning. The integration of mining objects, visitors’ mines and dioramas into the museum sphere constitutes a further aspect of knowledge production through objects.
• Objects of memory: 
  Often, artefacts such as mining banners or representations of Saint Barbara define a cross point between individual memory and an industry related memorial culture. On the one hand, the specific narratives and constructions of history linked with these objects can be analyzed; on the other hand one could ask for the institutional frameworks in which collecting and presenting these objects is constituted.
• Everyday objects:
  By everyday objects we mean mass produced, serial and standardized objects. The thermoplastic hard hat, for instance, stands in for a specific history of health and safety underground. What is the role of such objects in the history of mining and what can the potential traces of the everyday tell us about the tensions between standards and norms on the, one hand, and lived practice, on the other?
• Technical objects:
  Technology objects constitute a central part of most historical mining collections, from tools and machinery to mining architecture above and below the surface. To what extent does materiality and form add to our knowledge about the specific mining historical contexts (e.g. the role of materials such as plastics and aluminium agents of change)?

The international conference will take place from December 5th to 7th 2019 at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum. It is organized by the Montanhistorisches Dokumentationszentrum (Mining History Document Centre) – short form: montan.dok – at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum.

The conference will be held in German and English.

Please submit your paper proposal as an abstract of no more than 500 words and a CV until June 15th 2019 to Dr. Stefan Siemer (stefan.siemer@bergbaumuseum.de). Selection of the proposals is scheduled for June 2019, notification by July 15th 2019 latest.

The organizers can cover basic expenses for travel and accommodation for accepted contributors. It is intended to publish the contributions of the conference

Contact:

Dr Stefan Siemer
Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum
Mining History Document Centre
Am Bergbaumuseum 28
44791 Bochum
stefan.siemer@bergbaumuseum.de 
Tel.: +49 (0) 234 5877 158

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