Abstract
Museums have slowly transformed from colonial and national repositories to gateways that offer “global” platforms which aim to invite interaction between people from different ethnic backgrounds and socio-cultural contexts. Here we consider case studies from different settings including: an exhibition that took place at the National Museum in Lebanon in 2018 entitled “Chou Hayda?” which interfaces a pluralistic and collective approach to heritage and the socio-political past in Lebanon, along with the permanent show “Identity: Yours, Mine, Ours” at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne that looks at the question of cultural heritage and multiculturalism. Both exhibitions question ideas of citizenship and belonging as well as thinking about heritage and multiculturalism from different geopolitical angles and demonstrates how museums can play a central role for disseminating knowledge and challenging notions of ourselves and others.
The fieldwork research which appears in this chapter was undertaken by Dr Rania Jaber.
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Notes
- 1.
Sadly, at the time of writing, due to COVID-19 the exhibition is temporarily closed but an interactive website has been constructed conveying the themes and stories which form part of the exhibition https://museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/resources/identity/
- 2.
It is made from dough that is rolled out to create a flat round surface and is considered staple food found in most local bakeries in Lebanon. The traditional man’oushe is either zaa’tar or kechek. Zaa’tar is made from dried thyme, roasted sesame seeds, and sumac, which are mixed with olive oil while kechek is made from burghul and strained yoghurt, or labne, and mixed with olive oil. Each mixture is placed on top of the kneaded dough before it is put into the traditional furn or oven. Often, they are baked in batches and sold for a reasonably cheap price, making the man’oushe a fast and tasty street food.
- 3.
The selected newspapers are published in different languages (Arabic, English, and French). For instance, Assafir and Al Akhbar are published in Arabic, The Daily Star in English, and L’Orient Le Jour in French.
- 4.
The advertisement in the Daily Star reads as follows: In this ongoing project, artist Annabel Daou invites members of the public to partake in an intimate exchange in which they present their palms and receive their fortunes transcribed onto paper. For the current iteration of this project, 12 participants will have their fortunes published anonymously in this paper on May 28th.
- 5.
For more information about Fortune, please see Daou’s website: https://annabeldaou.com/FORTUNE-1
- 6.
The website for Chou Hayda can be accessed on: https://www.chouhayda.com/. The audio guide can be either downloaded through this link or accessed at the museum.
- 7.
The trailer can be accessed on this link: https://www.chouhayda.com/media
- 8.
- 9.
The public hanging in 1914 in the heart of Beirut of several individuals who publicly opposed the Ottoman Empire is a crucial event in Lebanese history. It created a contested identity for nationalists that was immortalised in a monument depicting the lives of individuals who believed in a sovereign nation.
- 10.
The slogan was also used in another, although brief, civil war in 1958. The war in 1958 had been the result of conflicting ideologies and long-standing clashes based on sectarian animosities between different sects.
- 11.
The reason why the segregation between east and west Beirut is referred to as the green line, is because the area was occupied by snipers therefore few people crossed this zone during the war years, which resulted in overgrown green shrubs and foliage.
- 12.
Information about TAP can be found on the Temporary Art Platform website: https://temporaryartplatform.com/what-we-do/
- 13.
This is taken from the TAP website: https://temporaryartplatform.com/what-we-do/
- 14.
For more information about this campaign, please visit the organisation’s website: https://dalieh.org/
- 15.
Mathaf Mathaf” accessed at: http://www.bema.museum/bema/main-menu/outreach/upcoming-programs/mathaf-mathaf
- 16.
Mona Hatoum: Witness (2010) accessed at: https://universes.art/en/nafas/articles/2010/tips/mona-hatoum-beirut
- 17.
The description is taken from the exhibition’s website which can be accessed on the following link: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whats-on/identity-yours-mine-ours/
- 18.
The Evaluation Report is a result of research conducted through Deakin University within the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, researchers from the University of Melbourne and partner organisations including Museum Victoria (Immigration Museum and Melbourne Museum) and the Victoria Health Promotion Foundation.
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Jaber, R., Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (2022). Transformative Exhibitions and Artistic Practices: Vision and Culture in the Educational Environment of the Museum. In: McIntyre-Mills, J.J., Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (eds) Transformative Education for Regeneration and Wellbeing. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3258-8_15
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