The Migration Museums Network is a group of museums that envision an open multicultural society, where human mobility is a universal right. They believe museums and societies must learn from past and present migration to remove boundaries between communities, embrace history and promote dialogue to combat racism, xenophobia and discrimination. The Network recognizes diverse experiences as part of evolving shared cultures, with a goal to create a common future with respect, justice, active citizenry and equity for all.
The Network is the outgrowth of an informal gathering of like-minded sites who, since October 2019, have worked collectively on migration-related topics to develop actions to combat the global rise of xenophobia and to protect migrants and their basic human rights. As a formal Network coordinated by the Coalition since 2021, the group meets regularly to exchange experiences, collaborate on methodologies, programs and campaigns to promote their mission.
Below are listed members of the Network and previous activities. Please check back regularly for updates.
Institutions Participating in the Migration Museums Network:
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, United States
Arab American National Museum, United States
Chinese Historica Society of America, United States
Deutsches Auswandererhaus German Emigration Center, Germany
Emigration Museum in Gdynia, Poland
EPIC – The Irish Emigration Museum, Ireland
Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Ghana
Immigration Museum, Australia
Instituzione Musei del Mare e delle Migrazione, Italy
Maison des Esclaves, Senegal
Migration Museum, Australia
MUNTREF, Museo de la Inmigración, Argentina
Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration, France
Museu da Imigração, Brazil
Newcastle University Centre for Research for Excellence, United Kingdom
Partition Museum, India
Red Star Line Museum, Belgium
Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, United States
Tea Plantation Workers’ Museum and Archive, Sri Lanka
Tenement Museum, United States
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Canada
The Danish Immigration Museum, Denmark
The Hannover Colliery, Germany
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, United States
ACTIVITIES
International Migrants Day
December 2021
During this day, the network highlighted the work and insight of individual Network members, who asked migrants in their community, “How would you like to be represented?” Below you can check submissions from members in Germany, France, and Australia.
International Migrants Day
December 2020
The Migration Museums Network is coordinating a week-long series of virtual activities related to the intersections of food and migration. As seen across history, the lack of access to food or the desire for safety and economic opportunity can impact migration waves. Once they arrive in their new home countries, migrants often rely on food not just for sustenance and financial income, but also to build connections to new friends and neighbors as well as to stay connected to the countries and cultures they left behind. Cooking and sharing meals together can help build a sense of belonging, connectedness, and community among different groups.
To learn more about the Migration Museums Network’s activities, click here.
World Refugee Day
June 2020
The Migration Museums Network, coordinated by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, joins the United Nations in commemorating World Refugee Day on June 20, 2020. As our world continues to battle widespread xenophobia and inequalities, in many ways made more manifest by the COVID-19 pandemic, World Refugee Day is an important opportunity to shine a light on the injustices suffered by refugees and migrants as well as their resilience and contributions to new communities.
International Migrants Day
December 2019
As a form of commemoration, the Migration Museums Network launched a campaign in December 2019 to virtually celebrate the International Day of the Migrant. For 10 days, December 8 to December 18, members of the network posted information, facts, and supported initiatives related to the enhancement of migrants, immigrants, and refugees’ rights. The campaign was presented on social media with the hashtag #MigrationMuseums.
The following images were shared by members during the campaign.
Network Convening Meeting
October 2019
In October 2019, representatives from 17 museums and related organizations, working across a combined 13 nations on 6 continents, met in Antwerp, Belgium. A daylong meeting focused on the guiding question “How can museums take collective action to combat the global rise of xenophobia?”
The result of this meeting was the creation of the Migration Museums Network.
Webinars
Migration Museums in Australia, Italy and France discuss the process of rethinking exhibitions to reflect current issues around migration.
The U.S. members of the International Sites of Conscience’s Migration Museums Network–the Wing Luke Museum, Arab American National Museum, and Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with special presentations from Angel Island State Park and Illegal: A New Musical creator Skyler Chin. The program discusses how different historic sites and museums are lifting up Asian American and Pacific Islander art and history in the context of an ongoing pandemic and calls for increased social justice.
Stay up-to-date with the network’s activities by following us on Instagram: @migrationmuseumsnetwork
