Call for paper: Political Activism and material culture: definitions, practices, periodisations. A dialogue between researchers, archivists and museum curators

On 4-5 May 2026, the first workshop of Work package 3 will take place at University of Padua and online

The workshop is co-organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the University of Padua.

This workshop aims at bringing together academic, archival, museum partners with specific expertise on the relationship between politics and material culture. The main objective of this workshop is to look at the history of militant culture by focusing on a scarcely developed aspect: the link between political experience and material culture. It aims to do so by promoting close cooperation between researchers and those involved in collecting, cataloguing and exhibiting such documentary material.

The seminar is conducted in a hybrid mode on site and online and is open to consortium partners and external contributors.

We encourage researchers, archivists and museum curators to submit papers addressing the following topics either from a theoretical and methodological perspective or by presenting specific case studies or experiences (for further information, see the call for proposals below):

1) Definition of political/militant objects

2) History and methods of collecting militant objects

3) Cataloguing and preparing metadata

4) Preserving, reproducing, and enhancing material sources

Download and share the call for proposals

To apply: Please submit your proposal, with a maximum of 3,000 characters including spaces, along
with a brief CV, by 28 January 2026 to this email: activatewp3@gmail.com

Application deadline: 28 January 2026

Organizing Committee:

Carlotta Sorba (University of Padua)
Anja Kruke (Friedrich Ebert Foundation)
Laura Valentini (Friedrich Ebert Foundation)
Alessio Petrizzo (University of Padua)