This workshop, taking place from 1 to 5 February 2027 and organised by German Research Foundation (DFG) and Goethe University Frankfurt, examines refigured archiving work currently undertaken in Africa and how it reshapes scholarship. It introduces the concept of the ‘archival commons’ to explore archiving as common, communal or communing practice, with implications for preservation and critical historical work.
Call for Papers
Building on Refiguring the Archive (2002) and broader debates on the archival turn and digital transformation, the workshop understands archives as dynamic, participatory spaces rather than static repositories. The archival commons foregrounds collective and decolonial approaches to archival practice.
They invite papers on the archival commons, focusing on:
- Publics – participation, roles, infrastructures, digital contexts
- Power – labour, visibility, inequality, digitisation, and contested histories
- Perspectives – knowledge production, methodology, and sustaining archival commons
Send your proposal of maximum 300 words and a one-page CV by 19 June 2026 to archivalcommonsworkshop@gmail.com.
