Beyond diplomacy: GLAM and cultural transnationalism

This article reframes the international work of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) through cultural transnationalism: a broad, multi-actor field within which cultural diplomacy is one narrower modality. Methodologically, we combine a two-stage review (targeted search and exploratory snowballing) with content analysis, organized by a three-domain (mission, market, diplomatic) framework. We demonstrate that GLAM’s cross-border practices are routinely co-produced by these logics and sustained by networks and infrastructures that extend beyond the state. This perspective clarifies how institutions and communities collaborate, circulate knowledge and negotiate identity and memory, even where official agendas are absent or contested. It also exposes structural biases that privilege Western flagships and undercount grassroots and non-Western initiatives. We advocate a conceptual realignment that nests diplomacy within the wider transnational frame and a more inclusive research agenda.