Seminar: Remembering and Representing Immigration – a Challenge for Museums

Kommentar

Immigration is a topic getting increasing interest from the cultural sector. While many European countries elaborate policies and laws to deal with what is often considered as a problem, many projects have been developed to tell the history of immigration and explain its consequences on society. One of the many possible answers to this social curiosity is the creation of museums, a type of institution which will be at the centre of this seminar.

Museums are relied on as the repository for Truth. Part of the museums‘ role is to preserve memories for future generations. They are therefore crucial to the building of national memory and, more importantly, citizenship. Their educational role is also increasingly important as school curriculums encourage teachers to use museums as a teaching tool. Consequently, museums are responsible for shaping national memory, and have a duty to inform correctly and objectively people on events they have not necessarily witnessed, in our case, „immigration“.

How can immigration be remembered and narrated? In which way is immigration represented in these institutions and which storylines are used? How are the collections built? What kind of problems do these museums face? Is there a good way of representing immigration? Should museums be used to shape national identity? Is it possible to tell the history of immigration objectively? Can museums relegate immigration to just a memory?

The seminar will be taught in English and will examine texts and projects linked to various immigration museums, including the Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration (2007, Paris), 19 Princelet Street (London), DOMiD (Köln) or Ellis Island (New York).

Each student will have to write and present a short analysis of one of the proposed texts/museums/projects.

in KLIPS