Migration Museum

A migration museum presents the history of human migration from or to a country or region in the past and in the present.

Museumization of Migration

In the immigration countries, the myth of the melting pot disintegrated in the second half of the 20th century and research, self-confidence and the presentation of ethnic groups increased. At the same time there was a museum boom in the museums of the countries of emigration and a turn to social history. Instead of the high culture of the dead white men , the living conditions of the common people with questions about everyday life, racism, class, gender, imperialism, colonization, ecology and minorities moved into focus. The emphasis shifted from collections to exhibitions and from object-based to concept-based exhibitions, which made it easier to depict migration with new forms of presentation. With the presentation and the potentially controversial relevance of migration to the present, migration museums aim to address and integrate a new clientele.

General

Migration museums are therefore a relatively new phenomenon. Numerous migration museums have opened in the last 20 years. It is hoped that they will contribute to a new and multiple identity, both on an individual and on a collective level. In the USA ( Ellis Island ), Australia and Canada and a little later in various European countries, for example France , Germany , Italy , the Netherlands , Portugal , Spain , Switzerland and Great Britain , such institutions were created to facilitate the transmission of the Facilitating experiences between the generations as well as encounters between the migrants and the host population, not least by telling personal stories.

In addition to preserving memories, these museums serve three main purposes: recognition, integration and awareness-raising.

Recognition : It is about recognizing the contribution that migrants have made to the host society, about the diversity and richness of the cultures of the countries of origin and about the right to dual membership.

Inclusion and integration : Strengthening the feeling of belonging, searching for similarities and presenting the contribution to the national identity of the host country

Awareness-raising: This is about imparting historical knowledge about the reasons that led individuals to leave their home country and to stimulate the empathy of the population of the host country. In general, stereotypes about migration should be broken down. The immigration museums of the new states such as Australia, Brazil, Canada and the USA have a national museum function in that they represent the European colonization and the states developing from it.

Given the international migration and the recent events such as the affair van Gogh and the 2005 French riots is an urgent need seems to be to give the migrant generations (the youth as their parents) a voice to inclusion, integration and the right to difference to promote. Listening to individual stories may help break down stereotypes. The combination of memory, history and narration may allow one to take a step back and recognize larger connections.

One of the challenges that migration museums are faced with is that they are not only intended as places for exhibitions and for the storage of objects, but also want to be lively places of encounter. Not only intellectuals, academics, researchers, historians and traditional museum visitors should come, but a broad audience, which often has preconceived ideas about migration and immigrants.

literature

Joachim Baur: Immigration museums as new national museums. The Ellis Island Immigration Museum and the Pier 21 Museum . Zeithistorische Forschungen / Studies in Contemporary History 3/2005, pp. 456–467 [1]
Joachim Baur: The Musealization of Migration. Immigration museums and the staging of the multicultural nation . Bielefeld: Transcript, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8376-1264-6 .
Aytac Eryilmaz: The Political and Social Significance of a Museum of Migration in Germany . Museum International, Volume 59, Numbers 1-2, May 2007, pp. 127-136
Henrike Hampe [Hrsg.]: German Society for Folklore / Working Group on Object Culture Research and Museum: Migration and Museum: New Approaches in Museum Practice, Münster: Lit, 2005.
Klaus Kremb: The "Homo migrans": Presentation and reception of migration history . In: Migration and World History . Ed .: Sabine Liebig, Wochenschauverlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-89974240-4 .
Maria Beatriz Rocha-Trindade, Miguel Monteiro: Museums Devoted to Migration: the Portuguese Emigration Museum , Museum International, Volume 59, Numbers 1–2, May 2007, 145–150.
Expert Meeting on Migration Museums - Final Report (pdf), IOM and UNESCO, Rome 2006.

Web links

UNESCO-IOM Migration Museums Initiative

Individual evidence

↑ Joachim Baur: The musealization of migration . P. 48 ff.
↑ Joachim Baur: The musealization of migration . P. 50 f.
↑ Joachim Baur: The musealization of migration . P. 54 ff.
^ Klaus Kremb: The "Homo migrans": Presentation and reception of migration history . In: Migration and World History . Ed .: Sabine Liebig, Wochenschauverlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-89974240-4 , p. 96.

[1] Joachim Baur: The musealization of migration . P. 48 ff.

[2] Joachim Baur: The musealization of migration . P. 50 f.

[3] Joachim Baur: The musealization of migration . P. 54 ff.

[4] Klaus Kremb: The "Homo migrans": Presentation and reception of migration history . In: Migration and World History . Ed .: Sabine Liebig, Wochenschauverlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-89974240-4 , p. 96.