Museums as places for intercultural dialogue - Network of European ...

ForewordChristina KrepsI was first introduced to the European project Museums as Placesfor Intercultural Dialogue (MAP for ID) in October 2008 whileteaching a course at the University of Bologna on museums andcultural representation. I was drawn to the initiative for a number ofreasons. As an anthropologist, I have been long concerned with therole museums, especially those housing ethnographic collections,can play in promoting cross-cultural understanding and respectfor human diversity. Hence, the concept of using museums as avehicle for intercultural dialogue was immediately captivating. I wasparticularly intrigued by how ethnographic collections were beingused to engage with immigrant communities. For many years now,scholars, museologists, and members of source communities havebeen debating the contemporary relevancy of ethnographic collectionsand their appropriate use given their nineteenth century origins andassociation with Western colonialism. In the thirty pilot projects carriedout in the framework of MAP for ID I saw the many innovative andunconventional ways participants are breathing new life into these andother types of collections and museums.MAP for ID’s focus on working with immigrant and minority communitiesto facilitate more harmonious and just integration addresses a questionof great social concern not only within European societies but also inthe United States. That is: How do we go beyond being multiculturalsocieties to being ‘intercultural societies where a plurality of culturescooperates in dialogue and in shared responsibility.’ 1 This is anoble if not idealistic goal. Indeed, as participants in the pilot projectIntercultural Monologues contend, ‘multiculturality is a fact of life, butinterculturality is still Utopia.’ The thirty projects presented in this bookshow us that achieving interculturality is a step by step process thatmay help, with every project and every action, to not only transform oursocieties but also our museums and the nature of public culture.MAP for ID exemplifies the ongoing trend within the internationalmuseum community to democratise museums and make them moreaccessible to wider audiences, socially relevant, and responsive totheir publics’ changing needs and interests. The initiative underscoresthe International Council of Museums’ definition of a museum as aninstitution ‘in the service of society and its development.’ It is one thing,however, to accept this axiom and quite another to put it into actualpractice. The MAP for ID projects provide us with concrete models ofhow to utilise the many resources of museums, artistic and culturalorganisations to serve contemporary social needs and interests.For example, many projects are devoted to helping immigrantcommunities better integrate into and become familiar with the historyand culture of their new home, engendering a sense of belongingand shared cultural heritage. Reciprocally, they offer examples ofhow immigrants and other minorities can use these same resourcesto teach their host communities something about their own cultureof origin. Through this work projects are cultivating new audiencesin addition to finding new ways to re-interpret collections, which inturn, create new purposes and meanings of the museum. Of criticalimportance though is how these new audiences are not just seenas “visitors” or cultural consumers. They are also cultural producers,participants in the process, decision makers, and protagonists in thecreation and dissemination of a new museum discourse and practice.Education and lifelong learning are at the heart of the MAP for IDinitiative, and education is one of the most valuable services museumsand cultural institutions provide society. While many museums inEurope have long placed education at the centre of their mission,working to continually improve their outreach and public programmingas well as “visitor services,” others have only taken up this chargerelatively recently. Whereas in some countries the collection andpreservation of objects historically has been the primary focus ofmuseums, in others, emphasis has shifted to people and the storiesbehind objects and collections. The different orientations of museumsand paces of change in different countries highlights how museums arealways the product of their own unique historical backgrounds, culturalcontexts, and social milieus. As social institutions and part of publicculture museums do not exist as isolated entities, but embody andreflect the values, attitudes, priorities, and ideologies of the societies inwhich they exist. If they are dynamic institutions, museums also evolvein response to changes taking place outside their walls. But MAP for IDprojects clearly illustrate how museums and other cultural organisationsdo not just mirror societal changes. They can also help shape them asagents of change themselves.MAP for ID is in itself an instructive case study in intercultural dialogueand international cooperation, comprised of participants from sixcountries representing a wide range of cultural, artistic, scientific, andeducational organisations. The pilot projects demonstrate what canbe achieved through collective action devoted to a common causeon relatively small budgets. They should be an inspiration to anyoneinterested in developing participatory approaches to making museums,cultural organisations, events, artistic performances, and cultural workin general more inclusive and multi-vocal.I have been honored to be invited to participate in this exciting andprofoundly important initiative. From an anthropological perspective,MAP for ID is a fascinating case study on the relationship betweenmuseums and the social and cultural changes taking place in Europeansocieties. But as both a museum theorist and practitioner, MAP forID is of more than academic interest to me. I am also concernedwith exploring how MAP for ID approaches to intercultural dialogue,especially with immigrant communities, can be applied to museumsin my hometown of Denver, Colorado. Although Denver and Europeancities have very different historical experiences related to immigrationand integration, we are all currently sharing similar challenges. It is myhope that I can carry the philosophy and spirit of MAP for ID across theAtlantic and continue broadening its scope of international cooperationand exchange.1From European Commissioner Ján Figel’s address during the launch of the EuropeanYear of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 in Slovenia.4 5