Overview and Aim of the Volume

This forthcoming volume in the Heritage Studies series critically examines how global heritage governance frameworks, such as the World Heritage Convention (WHC) and its Operational Guidelines (OG), intersect with the diverse realities of local contexts and practices. Rooted in European traditions that historically emphasized material aspects of heritage, these frameworks have evolved to reflect global contributions and diverse perspectives, such as those outlined in the Nara Document on Authenticity.

Despite this evolution, significant challenges persist in aligning international frameworks with the lived realities of local communities, cultural practices, and heritage sites. These challenges include systemic biases, power imbalances, and tensions arising from the interplay of global governance mechanisms and local realities. The volume seeks to address these issues by exploring how global heritage frameworks can become more inclusive and equitable while embracing the complexity and diversity of heritage.

In addition to critique, this volume invites contributors to propose innovative, practical recommendations for reform. Drawing on diverse local and national contexts, authors are encouraged to explore opportunities for improving representation, governance, and management within international heritage frameworks. The ultimate goal is to offer a forward-looking roadmap for reshaping heritage policy and practice to ensure a more inclusive future.

Target Themes

We welcome both theoretical perspectives and case studies that illuminate the interplay of global governance and local realities in heritage conservation. Contributions should align with the volume’s focus on inclusivity, diversity, and evolving definitions of heritage. Key themes include but are not limited to:

1. The Evolution of the WHC and OG
   • Historical analysis of the WHC’s origins and its progress toward inclusivity.
   • Reviews and comparative analyses of regional/national heritage conventions and their integration into international frameworks.
2. Diversity in Heritage Definitions and Governance
   • Case studies on local heritage practices, especially those rooted in indigenous, intangible, or hybrid traditions.
   • Proposals for under-represented heritage sites and practices within global frameworks.
3. Barriers to Inclusivity in Global Heritage Frameworks
   • Examination of systemic biases, such as Eurocentrism, geopolitical inequities, and structural challenges.
   • Exploration of decolonial perspectives and challenges.
4. Decolonizing Heritage Management Systems
   • Application of postcolonial and decolonial theories to reform global frameworks like the WHC.
   • Success stories of decolonized policies that can inform international reform.
5. Tensions Between Global and Local Heritage Practices
   • Analysis of how global frameworks are adapted, contested, or resisted in specific local contexts.
6. Innovative Pathways for Reform
   • Case studies of community-led approaches and integration of alternative knowledge systems.
   • Proposals for redefining international guidelines and practices to enhance inclusivity and equity.
   • Exploration of technological tools to improve access and equity in heritage management.

Potential Topics for Exploration

Submissions may focus on, but are not limited to:

• Sacred and Indigenous Heritage Sites: Challenges faced by indigenous communities in seeking recognition.
• Environmental and Cultural Landscapes: Integrating spiritual and ecological values into governance frameworks.
• Intangible Cultural Heritage: Safeguarding intangible practices while addressing tensions in institutional contexts.
• Museums and Decolonizing Heritage: Reshaping narratives and advancing sustainability through community engagement.
• Alternative frameworks that integrate tangible and intangible heritage in interconnected ways.

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts of 500 words are due by 30.01.2025, outlining the research aim, methodology, and anticipated contribution to the volume. Full papers (approx. 4,000–6,000 words) will be due by first week of May of 2025. Submissions should be emailed to globalframeworkslocalrealities@gmail.com with the subject line: “Global Frameworks, Local Realities: Rethinking International Heritage Frameworks Submission.”

This volume will be published by Springer Nature. For inquiries or further details, please contact globalframeworkslocalrealities@gmail.com.

Contact Information

Global Frameworks & Local Realities Team (c/o Kavita Peterson)

Contact Email

globalframeworkslocalrealities@gmail.com

Special Issue Call for Papers

‘Libraries, Archives and Museums in Oceania’

Guest Edited by Joshua Bell, Cristela Garcia-Spitz and Halena Kapuni-Reynolds

Though shaped by their colonial legacies and postcolonial presents, libraries, archives and museums can also be spaces of hope, healing and collective reimagining. These institutions and their staff steward various media formats (audiovisual objects and texts), giving presence to the many pasts of Oceania, and must reckon with Indigenous interventions that reconfigure these collections as familial legacies, belongings and ancestors. Collaborative work with Indigenous communities have also helped open these institutions and their collections to new possibilities, resulting in richer understandings about activating belongings to nurture and uplift source and descendant communities and returning belongings and ancestors through legal and ethical means. Simultaneously, Indigenous communities continue creating their own cultural centres, blurring distinctions between libraries, archives and museums to serve the needs of their respective communities.

While these projects and trends are in dialogue with global practices, they are also distinctly local and heterogeneous within Oceania. How are these projects in and around libraries, archives and museums transforming these institutions and their collections? How are Indigenous epistemologies helping to challenge the colonial legacies of these institutions? What new collaborative practices are emerging, which help to recentre the relations that may have otherwise been dormant? What lessons for institutions outside of Oceania can be taken from these engagements?

The Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies invites contributions that offer new insights into library, archive and museum practice in and about Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, and associated collections from the region that may be housed outside of Oceania. Papers might address the following issues:

• Indigenizing and decolonizing strategies for curatorial practice, exhibition design, collection development and management

• community-based programming and research
• repatriation and ethical returns
• rematriation initiatives
• conservation/preservation
• digitizing collections and ethical and inclusive metadata practices
• digital scholarship and pedagogy
• emerging technologies and their impact on research
• evolving roles, education/mentoring the next generation of museum/archive professionals

We are particularly interested in case studies highlighting lesser-known libraries, archives and museums in or of the Pacific.

The Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies is a double-blind refereed journal. Articles, accompanied by a short biography, abstract and keywords, must be between 5000 and 8000 words, including notes and references, and must be formatted according to the journal style guide (https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/2243/house-style-guide-6th-edition.pdf).

Original interviews (for example, with an artist, curator, librarian or archivist), research reports, review essays and exhibition reviews, between 1500 and 4000 words, are also welcome.

Deadline for submissions is 14 April 2025. All article submissions will be subject to peer review. If accepted for publication, articles will be published in vol. 13, no. 2, December 2025. Please submit complete articles for consideration to Heather Waldroup at waldrouphl@appstate.edu.