Call for Abstracts

Calls for museums to be ‘socially relevant’ abound. But how can museums engage with diverse publics on contentious issues and marginalized experiences given that many of them were founded on or have been implicated  in colonial violence, inequality, imperialism, and nationalism? What strategies are institutional insiders pursuing to challenge museums’ legacies of authority over others, and how can partnering with communities, academics, artists, and others contribute to their progressive transformation? 

TTTM’s final edited volume is intended to offer theoretical and personal reflections, practical tools, and case studies for thinking through museums with a critical eye. We are seeking to create a resource to help to better understand museums’ workings, to expand and amplify the range of voices that shape them, to increase comprehension, dialogue, cultural critique, creativity, and social solidarity by reaching both within and beyond museum walls – while grappling with the practical challenges and ethical quandaries embedded in this work on all sides, for all those who engage in it. The book is aimed at a broad audience including academics (in museum studies, cultural studies, history and heritage studies, and other public facing humanities fields); museum practitioners; artist-activists; policymakers; and community members who see themselves as implicated in the work museums do.

We invite abstracts from members across the TTTM network: Co-Investigators, Collaborators, Research Assistants, Affiliates, and Staff. Contributions in diverse forms and representing marginalized perspectives are encouraged, as are co-authored and collaborative pieces. 

We seek proposals for contributions in formats including:

• Long-form writing (6000 - 7000 words) 

• Short-form writing (2000 - 3500 words)

• Mini-contributions, including but not limited to: 

• Photo essays, memes, lists, Snapthoughts, existing TTTM website blog posts, curatorial statements from TTTM-sponsored exhibitions, artistic responses, etc. 

To submit your 300-word abstract for review, please complete the following form by February 15th, 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by email by March 31st, 2026. First drafts will be due June 15th, 2026. Please anticipate two or more rounds of edits in response to internal and external reviewers (see below note for details). 

*Please note: Once we select abstracts for inclusion, they will be included in the book proposal that will be submitted to University of Wisconsin Press. We must then wait ~8 weeks to hear whether our proposal is accepted. If it is, we will indicate to accepted authors to begin writing, with an agreed-upon deadline. Our TTTM editorial board may request revisions to your text, and you will be given a deadline to complete these. Once the proposed texts are completed, they will be sent out to the publisher to undergo a blind review process by external scholars, which may result in further revisions (or in rare cases, a text being rejected). Please be aware that the process from beginning to end can take at least ~2 years.