Interdisciplinary seminar on migration as depicted in museumsDeveloping a Critical Eye for Exhibitions

3 April 2023, by Christina Krätzig

Photo: public domain

A contemporary drawing shows a street scene from Five Points in New York, an area in which mostly Irish immigrants lived between 1820 and 1880.

Universität Hamburg—University of Excellence will be funding interdisciplinary teaching tandems for the third time in Summer Semester 2023. Two teachers from different subject areas cooperated on the development of an innovative learning format for the topic of sustainability. Here, we introduce one of the projects.

“Changing places, migrating, being mobile—since the dawn of humanity this has been the daily lived experience for many people and has shaped a very large part of human history, while staying put is really the exception. Accordingly, migration plays an important role in art and literature, science, and historical accounts,” says Dr. Gilberto Rescher, sociologist and expert on Latin America at Universität Hamburg. Together with Thorsten Logge, professor of public history, he has developed a teaching format for the Studium General that enables students to take a critical look at how migration is handled in museums.

“Our students come from very different subject areas, for example, education, English studies, or business administration,” explains Rescher. “Many have never considered the fact that museums also serve particular narratives. Simply the selection of objects or the way they are displayed, however, reflect particular views, social discourse, or special interests. Our seminar is designed to enable students to recognize this.”

Virtual field trips to exhibitions in 4 museums in countries known for immigration, including New York’s Tenement Museum, the Museu Afro Brasil, the Museu da Imigração in São Paulo, and the Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, form the seminar’s core. Museum staff at these institutions have filmed digital guided tours specifically for this seminar, which they can then discuss online with students in Hamburg.  

The seminar focuses on narratives and discourse and how the United States, Brazil, and Australia as nations have developed on the basis of their various immigration populations. All 3 countries have superficial national myths according to which they are melting pots, wealth is possible for everyone, and there is fundamental equal opportunity. “Yet it is evident that success stories make better narratives than the stories of marginalized groups assigned to underprivileged positions. This is why we are taking a special look at whether and how the migration of ethnic minorities, women, or rural peoples is handled,” says Rescher.

Universität Hamburg—University of Excellence is funding teaching tandems as part of efforts to expand the Studium Generale. Each teaching tandem will receive up to €6,000 in funding from the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments.