Michalina Petelska (University of Gdansk)

Museums and migrations

Since the initiation of the New Museology, museums have been participatory and inclusive places. Among the trends in museology, human rights museology, social museology and radical museology also seem to be of particular importance for the social sciences.

Her research is focused on migration museums. She conducts both theoretical research (she proposed a typology of migration museums from around the world) and practical research (analysis of museum activities undertaken in cooperation with emigrants and refugees). Migration museums are also an area of her teaching activity for students. During the war in Ukraine and the huge influx of refugees to Poland, she developed a university course for postgraduate students „Praca z migrantami w muzeach / Working with migrants in museums”.

In her short speech during the webinar, she will show how a historian – originally interested in historical museums and historical migrations –  actively discusses and responds to contemporary migration crises.