Skip to main content

Diversity and Museums in Germany

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
  • 1180 Accesses

Abstract

The chapter will reflect on the historical development of migration in Germany after the World War II up to the so called refugee crisis in 2015/16 and its influence on cultural institutions like museums. (A museum is understood as a nonprofit institution open to the public. Germany has a rich museum landscape with more than 6,000 museums, 400 exhibition halls, and more than 100 million visitors per year with increasing numbers.) Different phases of migration have led to different concepts not only in collecting and curating but also in the way of thinking about mediation and art (or cultural) education. This has happened within the broader range of human resources development, audience development, transcultural mainstreaming in museums, and whole-institution approaches. The various concepts will be discussed in respect to different scenarios with different kind of audiences. This leads to a typology built on the given base. In the next step, the specific strengths of museums will be explored and patterns of arts education will be recognized. The results of these considerations offer the chance to develop distinct models referring to two main dimensions, appreciation (power) and openness (self-concept). Referring to John W. Berry’s theory in acculturation and his kind of modeling, a concept is proposed that can be used to develop research in arts education in the field of cultural diversity, mainly in regards to two research approaches, case studies as well as evaluation of programs and measures—based on an epistemological model that avoids the trap of essentialism.

This paper focuses on museums dedicated to cultural heritage and contemporary culture including fine arts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The explanation, given by ICOM, the International Council of Museums, proclaims itself as universal: “This definition is a reference in the international community” (International Council of Museums, 2018). I wish to take this opportunity for adding a side note: This claim to universality is interesting in the context of this book and—more generally—in times that discuss cultural concepts, as for instance, the definition of arts education given by UNESCO quite controversially (IJdens, Bolden, & Wagner, 2018). We all know that the concept museum is deeply rooted in the European intellectual history.

  2. 2.

    The question of how to describe the target group is of fundamental importance, since it has a massive influence on the design of the respective measure. Various criteria, visible or invisible ones, are available, e.g., culture, value orientation, ethnicity/skin color, country of origin/ language, religion, educational level, age, gender/ sexual orientation, handicaps/disability, social class, etc.

  3. 3.

    “It is that Third Space, though unrepresentable in itself, which constitutes the discursive conditions of enunciation that ensure that the meaning and symbols of culture have no primordial unity or fixity; that even the same signs can be appropriated, translated, rehistoricized, and read anew” (Bhabha, 1994, p. 37).

  4. 4.

    The concept of interculturality was developed for describing communication between people from different countries in international business. Intercultural communication is related to communication across different cultures (religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds) within an organization or between organizations. In the last century, this concept was transferred to society.

  5. 5.

    Maccoby and Martin distinguish the following categories: responsiveness versus unresponsiveness (similar to appreciation in the model below—see table) and demanding versus undemanding (similar to openness in the model below). With these distinctions four parenting styles are defined: indulgent (permissive), neglectful, authoritative (propagative), and authoritarian (totalitarian) (Maccoby & Martin, 1983, pp. 1–102).

  6. 6.

    Berry, in his model of acculturation (developed in the 1990s for migration research), shapes four (conscious or unconscious) strategies of minority groups, like people with migration background, in a specific society. He asks whether members of these groups wish to continue with ‘the own culture’ or not and whether they wish to get in touch with the majority, the dominant culture. His categories are Assimilation, Separation, Integration, and Marginalization (Berry, 1990, pp. 232–253).

  7. 7.

    The following paragraphs are based on the explanations given on the website of the project (Humboldt Forum, 2018).

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ernst Wagner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Wagner, E. (2019). Diversity and Museums in Germany. In: Lum, CH., Wagner, E. (eds) Arts Education and Cultural Diversity. Yearbook of Arts Education Research for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8004-4_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8004-4_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-8003-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-8004-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics