Museums as sites for historical understanding, peace, and social justice: Views from Canada.

Abstract

This article examines a range of issues surrounding the proposition that museums are excellent sites in which historical understanding can be deepened, thus raising the possibility of peaceful resolution to conflict and the achievement of social justice. The article begins by arguing that Canada is a case study worthy of detailed exploration. A settler state with a significant aboriginal presence, Canada is unique in its official commitment to multicultural and bilingual identities, and its traditional identity as a country extolling human rights, social justice, environmental responsibility, and peacekeeping. These markers of nationhood have become increasingly problematic in light of the Conservative government's insistence upon unifying narratives of nationhood privileging military glories, ties to the British monarchy, and constitutional achievements. This reinvention of the nation has been visible in many places, but especially in commemorative practices, sites of memory, and museums. Recent and ongoing changes to the museum landscape have ignited much discussion about the nature and role of national museums. The author offers a summary of recent scholarly work by public historians on museums in contemporary society and considers museums that explicitly assert an agenda of social responsibility, before introducing the reader to three major national museums in Canada: the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Canadian Museum of Civilization (soon to be the Canadian History Museum), and the Canadian War Museum. Finally, the article introduces readers to the articles that follow in this special issue.

Education and post-communist transitional justice: negotiating the communist past in a memorial museum

“…Memorials and museums have a pedagogical function which can underline the message of 'never again' for future generations (Moore 2009;Sodaro 2018); keep alive the memories of past human rights abuses; present stories that have previously been silenced; and reaffirm collective identities rooted in a traumatic past (Jelin 2007). Museums in particular have become key sites for representing and remembering human rights abuses (Dean 2013), so that the establishment of memorial museums is commonplace in societies exiting from conflict or authoritarian rule. They are also sometimes established as a form of 'outreach' by national or international human rights courts and tribunals (Cole 2017).…”

“…It also implies that a visit to a museum or memorial site is not a one-way transmission of knowledge from the museum to the student. Instead, it has the potential to be a more dynamic encounter in which, rather than being passive learners, young people are able to actively engage with the material presented to them (Dean 2013). As such, educational visits to memorial sites have the potential to create transformative learning experiences among participants (McGladdery and Lubbe 2017) that are central to the role of education in transitional justice.…”

“…Indeed, memorialisation within transitional justice is not only about remembering, but also about using what is remembered to provoke a critical engagement with the present (Moore 2009;Hamber 2012). In this sense, memorial museums are both backward and forward-looking: they are about the past but they operate in the present (Dean 2013). By emphasising the hardships of the communist past, Sighet…”

Encountering the victims of Romanian communism: young people and empathy in a memorial museum

“…First, like many contemporary museums, they tell a story, but the story is centered on recent political violence. In this sense, they are safe spaces where difficult issues can be brought into the open, in the hope of achieving some form of resolution (Dean 2013). Second, such museums are sites of remembrance which recognize and acknowledge the victims of violence and repression.…”

Branding History at the Canadian Museum of Civilization

“…These initiatives, which seek to re-root Canadian foundations in a monarchical and military past, modulate the symbolic and practical bases of what it means to be Canadian in the present. Subtle examples began surfacing in 2006, such as the replacement of the image of the Library and Archives building with one of the Canadian War Museum on Canada's savings bonds (Dean, 2013). Perhaps the most explicit of these initiatives was the implementation in 2009 of a new guide for immigrants to Canada who aspire to citizenship.…”