Last week, the exhibition ‘Heden van het slavernijverleden’ (‘Afterlives of Slavery’) opened in the Tropenmuseum. On the website it says that: ‘The exhibition places the enslaved and their descendants on center stage. To initiate a sometimes difficult but productive dialogue, the Tropenmuseum has sought out personal stories from past and present that bring the history […]
In the book Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe. Peoples, Places and Identities (edited by Christopher Whitehead et al., 2015) curator Annemarie de Wildt writes about multiculturalism and diversity issues in the Amsterdam Museum. She takes the reader through the history of the museum which has its roots in the twenties of the last century. […]
In her article ‘Red lights in the Museum’ Annemarie de Wildt (curator of the Amsterdam Museum) describes the exhibition ‘Love for Sale’, which ran in the Amsterdam Museum in 2002.[1] This unconventional subject seemed like an inevitable choice for the Amsterdam Museum, since Amsterdam has a long history with prostitution and is now well known […]
Recently, there has been discussion in the United States about the vast amount of confederate statues. Some of those have been torn down, which caused great resistance from people who consider it a part of American history that should not be taken away from them. This week John Oliver dedicated an entire episode of his […]
In Maintaining Boundaries, Eric Gable researches how the United States’ largest living-history museum Colonial Williamsburg talks about black history. As a case-study, Gable asks the numerous museum guides how they treat the concept of antebellum America’s miscegenation; the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, or, in this case, sexual relations. In Colonial Williamsburg, […]
In the Netherlands there has never been more attention for slave heritage and never been more debate about it, writes Toine Heijmans in the Volkskrant last week on the occasion of the new exhibitions about slavery in the Tropenmusuem. The Dutch slave heritage has become a subject of discussion especially in the ongoing debate around Zwarte […]
Since museums are often seen as educational venues, consideration should be given to how problematic subjects are represented. Objects get meaning through the context in which they are placed, and through the combination of objects with which they are exhibited within the same space. The conservators who are responsible for the exhibitions have a major […]
This month the Black Achievement Month will take place in the Netherlands for the second time. Its purpose is to commemorate talented black people and to acknowledge black heroes. Black Achievement Month is based on the successful Black History Month in the United States and United Kingdom. However, the name of the Netherlands’ edition […]
Last week it was all over the news; VVD, CDA, D66 and the ChristenUnie want all children in the Netherlands to visit the Rijksmuseum at least once whilst in school. In their government formation talks the parties talked about making it mandatory for schools to arrange these trips to the museum. The compulsory visits are […]
‘How can the past be of practical value in the present?’ It’s a question we historians hear very often. Well, I could argue ‘of very practical value’, but it’s easier to show that significance by introducing you to the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience. Ruth J. Abram, the president and founder of the […]