Experiencing differences and negotiating prejudices at the Immigration Museum Melbourne

Abstract

The social agency of museums in countering prejudices and fostering respect for differences is increasingly recognised and empirical research has begun to illuminate the impacts of exhibitions devoted to ‘difficult’ subjects on audiences. This paper draws on an ongoing research project conducted by two Australian universities in collaboration with the Immigration Museum Melbourne aimed at understanding the role of the Identity: Yours, Mine, Ours exhibition in countering racism and increasing the acceptance of differences among Australian high school students. The paper focuses on narrative interviews with students which offer insights into how differences are experienced and prejudices become negotiated through processes of meaning-making and embodied engagements. The empirical evidence indicates that the exhibition moves beyond the orchestration of an abstract tolerance by unsettling ‘the Self’ and destabilising stereotyped interpretations of ‘the Other’. Identity: Yours, Mine, Ours creates a place and space of encounter in which differences are humanised, thus facilitating understandings of broader contexts through individual experiences. At the same time, the research findings suggest that the life worlds of students, their personal backgrounds and schools, are intertwined with their interpretive engagements with the exhibition and need to be considered for museum practices and further research.

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