Cultural Sensitivity in Museum Stewardship

Cultural Sensitivity inMuseum Stewardship Devon M. AkmonDeputy Director | Arab American National Museum

Mission: The Arab American National Museumdocuments, preserves and presents the history, culture and contributions of Arab Americans. http://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Building a Museum• To further our educational and public programs• To dispel stereotypes and misconceptions• To meet rapid growth and increased demands• To document, preserve and celebrate Arab American history and culture http://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

…In a Post-9/11 Environmenthttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Initial Challenges • What kind of museum and who would it be for? • Fear of reinforcing stereotypes or “outsider image” • How to best reflect the diversity of the community • The question of representation • Constructing an Arab American identityhttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

“A Democratic Grassroots Approach” • Assess the (national) community’s support for a museum • Create a Museum Task Force for guidance and fund raising • Build upon established relationships • Work with regional committees throughout the county • Build a consensus and respond to the communityhttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Collections & Interpretation Example: Coming to America galleryhttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Interpretation • Utilize personal stories that reflect the diversity of the Arab American community • Stress the similarities of the immigrant story common to all ethnic communities • Employ empathy and personal connections to bridge cultural gapshttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Current Collections Initiatives • Continue to collect three-dimensional objects • Building major archival collections • Collecting oral histories of Arab Americans • Collecting born-digital materials • Blogs, social media, websites, photos and videos • Themes including immigration, 9/11 and “Islamaphobia”http://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Oral History Initiative • StoryCorps event over 9/11 anniversary weekend • Well-known Arab American individuals • Patriots & Peacemakers • Ten Years Later community project Available for free listening and downloadhttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.o rg

Archiving the Internet

Archive-it | Internet Archive

Stay in touch!Devon AkmonDeputy Director | Arab American National Museum☎ 313.624.0208dakmon@accesscommunity.orghttp://www.arabamericanmuseum.org http://www.devonakmon.com http://www.twitter.com/DevonAkmon http://www.linkedin.com/in/devonakmon http://www.slideshare.net/akmon

Cultural Sensitivity in Museum Stewardship

by Devon Akmon on Nov 04, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 215

Statistics

Cultural Sensitivity in Museum Stewardship — Presentation Transcript

http://www.devonakmon.com	213
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2