The next seminar, in the series MAKS Research Seminars, will be held on Wednesday 27 March at 12:15 in MAKS Room 414.
Dr Charles J. Farrugia (Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences), will talk about 'Malta's MEMORJA project: research dimensions'.
Light refreshments will be served. A discussion will be held.
Speaker profile
Dr Charles J. Farrugia is a Lecturer in the Department of Library, Information and Archive Sciences. He led the National Archives of Malta for the last twenty years and has been lecturing records management and archive studies at the University of Malta for the last fifteen years. His first academic qualifications were in history and later he specialised in archives. His doctorate in archives focuses on the applicability of performance culture maturity models to the management of national archives in Europe. He also held a number of international posts including Chairperson of the Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers and currently Chairperson of the European Branch of the International Council on Archives.
Abstract
MEMORJA is an oral, sound and visual archive developed within the National Archives of Malta (NAM) aimed at becoming the leading depository of national and public memory. It aims to employ innovative research, methodologies, theoretical and archival approaches, as well as state of the art techniques/IT, to collect, record, transcribe, preserve, and make available for research, community and individual memories. It builds on the Public Memory Archive already existent within the University of Malta.
NAM is using its national memory project, ‘MEMORJA’, to bridge the gap between the institution and ‘hidden’ Maltese communities through personal story telling. The project is transforming NAM, from a passive national entity duty-bound to accession public records into an active creator of records of all types. This has its challenges, a number of which are of an academic nature.
The talk will describe what led to this project and its current logistics and research agenda. It will also outline the challenges faced by the stakeholders involved. Finally, it intends to raise a discussion on how the new research dimensions can provide opportunities for students in a number of departments within MAKS and even beyond.