Workshop Abstract:
The region is currently witnessing a flowering of new cultural organisations devoted to engaging the public with history that challenges official historical narratives and recovers marginalised histories. This includes the collection of oral histories and the digitisation of personal archives, as well as the creative dissemination of new forms of social history. Responding to this phenomenon, the workshop entitled ‘Documenting and Disseminating Histories of Labour and Social History in Southeast Asia’ in Kuala Lumpur is co-organised by Pusat Sejarah Rakyat; Department of History, University of Bristol; International Institute of Social History,and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya. The workshop is funded largely through a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship held by Professor Su Lin Lewis, who is working on a transnational history of Asian socialist intellectuals in the era of decolonisation.
This two-day workshop is intended for representatives of regional network of archival-based organisations to meet and share grounded experiences of their praxis. It aims to:
1. Reflect on the importance of such projects at the national and regional level, and as alternative sources of community-based knowledge production
2. Exchange ideas and pedagogy in the form of art and cultural practices to engage the public in these histories
3. Learn about the practicalities of prioritising, preserving, and digitising such collections.
Through the workshop, diverse presentations and sharing sessions were conducted focusing on the themes of “Public History & Dissemination”; in looking at democratic process of museum-making process, creative historical engagement and methodologies of popular history dissemination. On the second day, the workshop focused on the conversation to unravel the challenges & best practices of archiving, particularly involving independent organisations, as well as future planning in consolidating the regional network of archival initiatives.
The workshop concluded with visits to Lostgens’ and Malaysia Design Archive; both are independent local archives in Malaysia to learn the dynamics of archival practices and dissemination.