Inclusive Engagement Practice

长期以来，伦敦大都会档案馆一直处于包容性参与和学习规划的最前沿，与首都各地不同社区合作，并将材料存档。这丰富和改变了公众和专业人士看待其藏品的方式，并促进了更多的反思实践。自20世纪90年代以来，要求制定更具包容性的计划的呼声越来越高，而且变得越来越紧迫，尤其是自布里斯托尔的奴隶贸易雕像被推翻以及2020年“黑人的命也重要”抗议活动以来。档案馆如何应对这一挑战是当今该部门面临的最紧迫问题之一。这个公共历史实践博士项目旨在通过以下研究问题来检查和试点应对这一挑战：LMA的参与和学习计划如何才能最好地服务于从事历史创造的社区的需求，这些社区传统上在档案专业和收藏中代表性不足？参与和学习专业人员在与代表性不足的社区发展合作关系并促进他们与档案的参与方面发挥了什么作用？参与和学习专业人士如何平衡为代表性不足的社区提供定制空间的需求，并将这些声音和生活经验纳入档案工作的主流？数字和艺术方法如何帮助吸引和代表新的和更广泛的受众，同时保持档案收藏的证据和材料性质？作为LMA的参与和学习官，学生将通过对当代公共历史、档案和博物馆实践、文学和理论的回顾来研究这些问题；C.20次与档案馆和博物馆专业人员和社区代表的访谈；并在此基础上，与社区代表共同设计了12个实验性社区参与事件和活动的组合开发和评估。这个项目是反复的、反射性的，它可以包括关于共同策展的社区研讨会、多样化的历史教育资源、社区数字装置、对LMA馆藏的创造性回应，或者这些馆藏中的空白，将在项目的过程中根据社区用户和专业人士的反馈而不断发展，最终形成资源和技能共享的机会，以加强行业实践。该项目将包括三个共同创建的活动，每个活动都有四个高度优先的参与对象：黑人和全球多数社区、LGBTQ+社区、残疾用户和工人阶级社区。为了确保所开发的实践是可持续的、可复制的和可扩展的，这些活动将是低成本的，并与LMA现有的参与和学习计划相结合并由其提供资源。项目产出将包括一篇4万字的反思论文；事件和活动本身（计划、视觉和书面证据以及评估报告将构成实践组合的一部分）；由博物馆和档案馆主办和推广的案例研究、工具包和指南；以及在LMA举办的技能分享研讨会；同时在适当的学术和档案部门会议上发表论文。

London Metropolitan Archives has long been at the forefront of inclusive Engagement and Learning programming, working collaboratively with, and archiving material from, diverse communities across the capital. This has had the effect of enriching and changing the way both the public and professionals look at its collections, as well as prompting more reflective practice. Since the 1990s, calls for more inclusive programming have only grown and become more urgent, especially since the toppling of the statue of slave trade Edward Colston in Bristol and the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. How archives rise to this challenge is one of the most pressing issues faced by the sector today. This PhD by Practice in Public History project seeks to examine and pilot responses to this challenge through the following research questions:1. How can Engagement and Learning programming at LMA best serve the needs of communities engaged in history-making that have been traditionally underrepresented in the archival profession and collections?2. What is the role of Engagement and Learning professionals in developing collaborative relationships with underrepresented communities and facilitating their engagement with the archive?3. How can Engagement and Learning professionals balance the need to provide bespoke spaces for underrepresented communities with bringing these voices and lived experiences into the mainstream of an archive's work?4. How can digital and artistic approaches help engage and represent new and wider audiences while remaining anchored in the evidential and material nature of archive collections? The student, an Engagement and Learning Officer at LMA, will examine these questions through a review of contemporary public history, archive and museum practice, literature, and theory; c.20 interviews with archive and museum professionals and community representatives; and, based on this work, the development and evaluation of a portfolio of twelve experimental community engagement events and activities, co-devised with community representatives. Iterative and reflexive, this programme (which could include community workshops on co-curation; diverse histories educational resources; community digital installations; or creative responses to LMA collections, or the gaps in these collections) will evolve over the course of the project in response to feedback from community users and professionals and culminate in resources and skills-sharing opportunities to enhance sector practice. The programme will include three co-created activities each with four high priority engagement audiences: Black and Global Majority communities, the LGBTQ+ community, users with disabilities, and working-class communities. To ensure the practice developed is sustainable, replicable, and scalable, the activities will be low-cost, with the activity integrated into and resourced by LMA's existing Engagement and Learning programme. The outputs of the project will include a 40,000-word reflective thesis; the events and activities themselves (the plans, visual and written evidence, and evaluation reports of which will form part of the practice portfolio); case studies, toolkits and guides for museums and archives to be hosted and promoted by LMA; and skills-sharing symposia hosted at LMA; along with papers at appropriate academic and archive sector conferences.