The imperatives surrounding museum representations of place have shifted from the late eighteenth century to today. The political significance of place itself has changed and continues to change at all scales, from local, civic, regional to national and supranational. At the same time, changes in population flows, migration patterns and demographic movement now underscore both cultural and political practice, be it in the accommodation of ’diversity’ in cultural and social policy, scholarly explorations of hybridity or in state immigration controls. This book investigates the historical and contemporary relationships between museums, places and identities. It brings together contributions from international scholars, academics, practitioners from museums and public institutions, policymakers, and representatives of associations and migrant communities to explore all these issues.

The imperatives surrounding museum representations of place have shifted from the late eighteenth century to today. The political significance of place itself has changed and continues to change at all scales, from local, civic, regional to national and supranational. At the same time, changes in population flows, migration patterns and demographic movement now underscore both cultural and political practice, be it in the accommodation of ’diversity’ in cultural and social policy, scholarly explorations of hybridity or in state immigration controls. This book investigates the historical and contemporary relationships between museums, places and identities. It brings together contributions from international scholars, academics, practitioners from museums and public institutions, policymakers, and representatives of associations and migrant communities to explore all these issues.

This book exploreshow new cultural identities in transformation are challenging the notion andsignificance of cultural heritage today in Europe.

Recent decades have seen migration history and issues increasingly featured in museums. Museums and Migration explores the ways in which museum spaces - local, regional, national - have engaged with the history of migration, including internal migration, emigration and immigration. It presents the latest innovative research from academics and museum practitioners and offers a comparative perspective on a global scale bringing to light geo- and socio-political specificities. It includes an extensive range of international contributions from Europe, Asia, South America as well as settler societies such as Canada and Australia. Museums and Migration charts and enlarges the developing body of research which concentrates on the analysis of the representation of migration in relation to the changing character of museums within society, examining their civic role and their function as key public arenas within civil society. It also aims to inform debates focusing on the way museums interact with processes of political and societal changes, and examining their agency and relationship to identity construction, community involvement, policy positions and discourses, but also ethics and moralities.

Bringing together an international forum of experts, this book looks at how museums, libraries and further public cultural institutions respond to the effects of globalisation, mobility and migration across Europe. It puts forward examples of innovative practice and policies that reflect these challenges, looking at issues such as how cultural institutions present themselves to and interact with multicultural audiences, how to support networking across European institutions, and share practice in core activities such as archiving interpreting and exhibiting artefacts. Academics, practitioners from museums and public institutions and policymakers explore theoretical and practical approaches from a range of different disciplines such as museum and cultural heritage studies, cultural memory studies, social anthropology, sociology of organizations, cultural heritage management and cultural heritage informatics.