| Activating
the Past Report Sponsored by the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program and the Arts of Citizenship Program, in collaboration with the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience Summary Visible Players in Civic Life A New Tool for Our Communities This symposium brought together 190 academics and students from museum studies, history, international relations, and other programs; museum professionals from across the Great Lakes region; and community and social activists from southeast Michigan and northern Ohio. Through examples of how different sites of conscience engage in key issues of local, regional and national identity, participants discussed what new steps, connections and collaborations could be created to enhance their own institutions, organizations and communities. David Scobey, Director of the Arts of Citizenship Program at the University of Michigan, underscored the idea that culture, universities and museums can act as effective and key media for community life and overall citizenship–particularly in unequal and diverse societies struggling for democratic practice. In her closing thoughts, Dr. Kristin Ann Hass, Associate Director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, and Lecturer in the Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan, challenged participants to think outside the traditional concept of museums as sites which focus solely on the object, thus producing limited "pre-packaged knowledge." Dialogues, being the "lifeblood" of sites of conscience, serve as a key strategy for the production and transfer of knowledge in museums, historic sites and communities at large. Framing the Issues: Introductions and Overviews Raymond Silverman, Director, Museum Studies Program, and Professor, Department of the History of Art and Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan Welcome and Introductory Remarks [full text] Liz Ševčenko, Vice President of Interpretation, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and Director, International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience In the last days of 1999, a group of historic sites—from the Slave House in Senegal to the Gulag Museum in Siberia—came together to discuss a novel idea: that it was the obligation of historic sites to help their communities use history to address pressing contemporary issues. Based on this shared commitment, the group founded the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience. Ševčenko provides an overview of the mission of the Coalition, the ground breaking work of its member sites, and the development of the group from a small band of misfit museums to an international movement bringing together the fields of human rights, education, art, and civic dialogue. [full text] David Scobey, Director, Arts of Citizenship Program and Associate Professor, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan Scobey introduced the ideas about culture and citizenship that support the importance of sites of conscience and frame Michigan's Arts of Citizenship Program, a project promoting a more active citizenry through university-community collaborations in the arts, the humanities, and design. For Scobey, citizenship means:
Culture-making, key to all of these activities, is, in fact, "a medium for citizenship." Citizen engagement happens through "collaborative culture-making." Sites of conscience, by bringing together people from multiple perspectives in dialogue about history and culture, can be powerful centers for this kind of citizen engagement. Sessions: From Local Dialogues to National Conversations Remembering Racism in Urban Communities
The mission of the Museum of District Six is to ensure that the history and the memory of forced removals in South Africa endure and in the process challenge all forms of social oppression. It aims to foster understanding between people, isolated by segregation, by focusing on the cosmopolitan nature of District Six. Central to its mission is the documentation and imaginative reconstruction of the history, labouring life and cultural heritage of District Six. Valmont's presentation gave an overview of how one South African community has commemorated a neighborhood previously uprooted under the Apartheid system and how the process of remembering the history and memory of forced removals in South Africa can challenge all forms of social oppression. Originally built in 1828 for the city's patrician elite, St. Augustine's Church presently houses the largest African American congregation of any denomination on the Lower East Side of New York. The mission of the Project is to restore its "Slave Galleries": two haunting, box-like rooms above the balcony where African Americans were forced to sit and to open those spaces for dialogue on issues of segregation and marginalization today. Deacon Hopper's presentation explores how the Slave Galleries Project worked with a community coalition of Latino, Chinese, Jewish, and African American neighborhood leaders and residents to interpret the story of the slave galleries and design dialogues for local residents. [full text]
The heart of this museum is its landmark tenement building, home to 7,000 people from over 20 nations from 1863 to 1935, located in a neighborhood where 40 percent of the residents were born in another country. In a time of growing anti-immigrant sentiment, the Tenement Museum seeks to use this history as a starting place for public dialogue on immigration-related issues of past and present. Ševčenko introduces the variety of programs the museum developed to engage visitors in dialogue and collaborate with the museum's immigrant communities. [full text]
National Conversations on Democracy Sites remembering two violent abrogations of democracy – the internment of Japanese Americans and the forced labor of the Gulag – presented how they use these histories to promote cultures of active citizen participation and democratic engagement.
The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) is the only museum in the United States dedicated to sharing the experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry. The mission of the Japanese American National Museum is to promote understanding and appreciation of America 's ethnic and cultural diversity by preserving, interpreting and sharing the experiences of Japanese Americans. JANM is in the process of developing the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, an exciting new organization based in a 1920s Buddhist temple that served as a collection point for Japanese Americans to be interned during World War Two. Seeking to inspire us to take an active part in learning about and shaping freedom and democracy, the National Center will examine American democracy from diverse perspectives— including those of African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, Arab American and Jewish American ancestries—whose lives and experiences have transformed and continually transform American democracy. Kurahashi discussed the Center's programming plans, including a Democracy Laboratory and a youth-run film project on the meaning and experience of democracy today. [full text]
In this former Stalinist labor camp, a principal place of confinement for political prisoners, the Gulag Museum seeks to tell the history of political repression and totalitarianism in the former Soviet Union in order to prevent its recurrence—there and elsewhere. It is the first and only Stalinist labor camp to be opened as a museum in Russia. The Museum described both its strategies for bringing together former prisoners and former guards to reflect on the past and its implications for the nation's current struggles with democracy, as well as educational programming that helps young people explore what democracy looks like and what their role is in developing it. [full text]
Key Themes & Questions on Sites of Conscience After each set of presentations, participants divided into groups of 8-10 to discuss:
Groups raised following questions: Whose Voice, Whose Truths: How Do We Construct Narratives at sites of conscience? At sites of conscience, is there ever tension between research and the construction of narratives and the process of community involvement and community politics? Do communities who want ownership over a site and its story want a certain version of the story to be told – even when research suggests a more complicated story? What happens to traditional approaches to historical research and interpretation in a site of conscience?
How can sites of conscience work with publics who doubt the stories and reality of what happened at our sites? For the Gulag Museum, these are the most important people to attract. The Gulag Museum seeks to find ways to expose people to Perm 36 in a way that others can process it. They believe the future of their country relies on establishing an ongoing dialogue that includes all groups – those who continue to support communism and those who don't. The path for democracy-building is creating a collective history. How do we define 'museum' in the 21st Century? Challenging visitor expectations of museum experience The Sites of Conscience movement must face what one group called the "issue of inertia": the difficulty in changing how things are traditionally done in museums. How do sites of conscience address this problem or tackle visitors' potential discomfort with the difficult issues raised? How should a site of conscience challenge, visitors' expectations of what a museum experience should be – but in a way that still makes them want to come back? For example, how do sites of conscience interpret multiple and often conflicting perspectives on race in a sensitive, respectful and engaging manner? Given the political nature of memory and the fact that narrative about the past is created by those living in the present (and is therefore constantly being recreated), museum professionals control the presentation of the past and how exhibits can be interpreted by visitors. Who "controls" the site of conscience and whose voice shapes the narrative? One group questioned whether sites of sonscience should change in response to opposition from visitors, funders or other stakeholders.
Museums have great potential to serve as spaces for identifying and celebrating shared experiences and for fostering mutual respect. Some participants felt that imagining museums as spaces for shared experiences was a better framework than spaces for dialogue. However most visitors come to sites of conscience with wildly different life experiences and perspectives on the issues we are raising. How do we bring people with these different perspectives into constructive dialogue with one another? How do we help people transcend the specifics of their conflict and help them speak with each other about what they have in common? Participants stressed the importance of constructing open-ended narratives; conducting extremely careful research and making that research transparent; hiring highly trained people to lead dialogues; and allowing visitors to participate on a variety of levels. Different cultures have different models for dialogue that we can turn to for guidance and inspiration. For instance, in Navajo, hozjo means harmony, or beauty and happiness. It also represents a model for dialogue. Each of the cultures represented in the Coalition has a different history of communication and sharing that can be cultivated.
Some groups expressed concern that money could affect or define a site of conscience's content and vision: tensions could arise between funder expectations and the need to foster dialogue on "uncomfortable" issues in the community—especially considering the politically charged nature of US federal funding sources at present. Museums should also think more broadly about what resources they have for conducting dialogue or other civic engagement activities, so they are not trapped or delayed by the idea of having to raise a multi-million dollar grant in order to take the first step in engaging their community. How do we evolve with the issues? Finally, most groups questioned how the mission of sites of conscience can evolve to address the revolving needs and issues of changing constituencies such as the new residents of District Six. In 100 years how will their programs be different? Will Perm-36 change in a post-Putin environment? What will a site of conscience look like in the future, and what new roles will it undertake? What new training is required for future sites of conscience museum professionals? What do sites of conscience suggest for museum studies programs? Sites of Conscience represent a new approach to museums, a new museum practice. This practice requires new skills that are not traditionally part of the training museum studies programs provide. Audience members asked, what kinds of skills are going to be required in museum of the future? What can museum studies programs do to prepare the museum professionals of the future? Panelists identified several skills and practices not traditionally associated with museum practice, that are critical to the operation of sites of conscience:
Valmont Layne of the District Six Museum suggested that museum studies programs look to civil society and social service work, where many of these skills are fostered.
Strategies for Actions Based on the examples of sites of conscience models presented, discussion groups were encouraged to brainstorm unique strategies museums could employ to foster active civic dialogue and participation:
Since many museums utilize objects to inform visitors or tell a story, all groups felt it is essential to keep using objects as a central part of interpretation. In addition, both object and non-object-focused museums emphasized the power of oral histories in developing a narrative, especially when there is no physical site to present. Although some participants believed art museums would have difficulty adopting a sites of conscience framework, individual collections and exhibits could be tied to specific oral histories and could incorporate multiple perspectives. Promoting civic engagement through partnerships To establish museums as vital institutions in the civic life of their communities, many groups cited the necessity of fostering partnerships with civil society and community institutions. Partnerships between museums and community organizations in public spaces could take various forms and support different activities such as community fora and workshops, walking history tours with markers or memorials at destroyed sites, or utilizing graffiti zones and public bulletin boards to commemorate a historical site and heighten awareness. Ideas on how to support sites of conscience and their programming included:
Incorporating Civic Dialogue in Your Own Work Symposium participants had the opportunity to explore how they could envision transforming their museum (or a place they are familiar with) into a site of conscience. A number of ideas and creative initiatives came from these deliberations reflecting how some participants have used a historic site or location as a springboard for discussing civic issues as they relate to past and present times. What kinds of sites make sites of conscience? (Woodrow Wilson House) Institutions of privilege can also be sites of conscience. For instance, the Woodrow Wilson House could examine the complicated legacy of the Wilson presidency, including its role in shaping race and gender inequalities. Bringing Sites into the Curriculum Two academics cited examples of how they have used location and space to introduce debate and awareness of social issues in their classrooms. One participant has created a map of Berlin, linking many architectural sites to their historical narrative as an effective teaching tool in her history course. Another uses the history of a site such as Perm 36 to promote debate in her classroom on larger social issues that students would not otherwise confront.
Charles Wright Museum of African-American History (Detroit, MI) Built on the location of the former Black Bottom and Paradise Valley districts, the Charles M. Wright Museum of African-American History could develop inter-generational communication through an oral history project. The museum could provide a space for connecting the former glory of the area and forced relocation of residents to issues such as contemporary residential and economic segregation among visitors of all ages. Historic Fort Wayne (Detroit, MI) Once the site of military induction during World War II and the Vietnam War, Historic Fort Wayne has long been a place which has inspired viewpoints on war, from war protestors and critics to veterans and the general public. One group suggested creating a National Veterans History Project by using the space as a place to train all veterans and participants to express and record oral histories from a gender- and racial-inclusive perspective, as well as display an exhibit of objects that soldiers used during military service. The site could collaborate with other colleges and university programs (e.g. language and cultural studies departments), and harness local media to publicize and commemorate those being remembered. Moreover, Historic Fort Wayne has the potential to function as a space to foster dialogue on different viewpoints on war.
Dedicated to innovation, invention and perseverance, The Henry Ford not only showcases technological inventions, but also national treasures and artifacts that have helped shaped America. Objects and buildings from a vast collection, such as former plantation, slave huts, and the Rosa Parks bus, could be used to create a program offering guided tours which reflect the history of African-American migration to Detroit and utilize archival material as a resource for addressing and creating discussion around topics of slavery, African-American migration, and civil rights. The development of partnerships with local community organizations was also stressed as a way to gather feedback and incorporate multiple perspectives on dialogue topics, while an interactive electronic kiosk would enable visitors to view the sites and archival materials. Michiguama Room (Ann Arbor, MI) The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience designs learning exchanges on how historic sites and museums can serve as effective centers for dialogue on pressing social issues. For more information on the Coalition, or to find out how the Coalition can design a workshop or conference for your organization, contact For more information on the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program, contact |
Valmont Layne, Director, 
Rev. Edgar W. Hopper, Deacon, On-Site Coordinator of the Slave Galleries Project, 
Liz Ševčenko, Vice President of Interpretation, 
Eileen Kurahashi, Vice President, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 
Tatiana Kursina, Executive Director, 
As many museums offer an object-based narrative, what objects would help tell the story in a site of conscience? Professionals from art museums questioned how their museums could be transformed into sites of conscience, even though they may be institutions primarily focused on aesthetics. Deep and sustained collaborations with communities could make art museums more effective forums for exploring civic issues. 
How do we create a space for dialogue among people with different perspectives? 
How do we negotiate the interests of funders? 
Objects and Oral Histories
Remembering Mexican-American Auto Workers (Detroit and Chicago)
The Henry Ford (Dearborn, MI)