The Aftermaths of Participation: Outcomes and Consequences of Participatory Work with Forced Migrants in Museums - Paperback

by Susanne Boersma (Author)

How do participatory museum projects with forced migrants impact both the museum and the participants? What happens during these projects and what is left of them afterwards? Based on interviews with museum practitioners, facilitators and project participants, Susanne Boersma brings together unique insights into museum work with forced migrants. Her study of participatory projects in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK reveals museums' limiting infrastructures, the shortcomings of their ethical frameworks, and the problems of addressing forced migrants as 'communities'. Outlining the diverging objectives, experiences and outcomes of participatory projects, she suggests how these might be united in practice.

Author Biography

Susanne Boersma, born in 1992, is a museum practitioner and researcher based in Berlin. Previously, she worked as a curator, editor, and educator across different cultural sectors in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany. Her research focuses on museums' responses to forced migration to Europe and considers the experiences of and outcomes for the participants in museum work. She puts her findings into practice as a curator of museum exhibitions and projects at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SPK).