Confronting Stereotypes, Racism and Xenophobia in Oslo Museum – Intercultural Museum (IKM)

Abstract

Museums play an important role in society as repositories of culture history and knowledge, and also as meeting places for visitors. Oslo Museum – Intercultural Museum (IKM) is a municipal museum located in the Norwegian capital Oslo, in a diverse neighbourhood including a high concentration of immigrants. With its many exhibitions and local activities, IKM is a contact zone for the local community, the capital’s inhabitants and numerous schools. The exhibition “It’s just like them …” with the installation Anatomy of Prejudice encourages visitors to reflect on prejudices, to express and co-create them using their smart phones, and to exhibit them. In 2017, IKM and Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) started exploring how IKM can strengthen its digital presence and reach out to a wider audience. The article first outlines and theorizes the mission and activity of IKM. Then the exhibition “It’s just like them…” and the installation Anatomy of Prejudice are analyzed. Finally, IKM’s external communication strategy and media management are addressed.

Keywords

Museum / stereotypes / xenophobia / contact zone / plural societies / communication strategy / digital public space

References

[1] Arstad, Celine. (2018). Communication strategy for Intercultural Museum of Oslo. Term paper for course MoK2300 Information, Communication and Social Media. OsloMet — Oslo Metropolitan University, spring term 2018 (unpublished).

[2] Barrett, Jennifer. (2012). Museums and the public sphere , Chichester: Wiley—Blackwell.

[3] Bettum, Anders; Maliniemi, Kaisa & Walle, Thomas M. (Eds.) (2018). Et inkluderende museum. Kulturelt mangfold i praksis. [An inclusive museum. Cultural diversity in practice]. Trondheim: Museumsforlaget.

[4] Bettum, Anders & Ôzcan, Gazi. (2018). Dialog som metode—inkluderingsstrategier ved Interkulturelt Museum 2006—2016. [Dialogue as a method — inclusion strategies at Oslo Intercultural Museum 2006—2016]. In Bettum, Anders ; Maliniemi, Kaisa & Walle, Thomas M. (Eds.), Et inkluderende museum. Kulturelt mangfold i praksis (pp.181-226). Museumsforlaget: Trondheim.

[5] Boast, Robin. (2011). Neocolonial collaboration. Museums as contact zone revisited. Museum Anthropology, 34(1), 56-70. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548—1379.2010.01107.x

[6] Bocchi, Catarina. (2018). The Anatomy of Prejudice and a deep analysis of the forest of prejudices. Term paper for course MoK2300 Information, Communication and Social Media. OsloMet — Oslo Metropolitan University, spring term 2018 (unpublished).

[7] Bodo, Simona. (2012). Museums as intercultural spaces. In Richard Sandell & Eithne Nightingale (Eds.), Museums, equality and social justice (pp.181-191). Abingdon: Routledge.

[8] Bothner—By, Annelise Rosemary. (2017). å designe sammen…[to design together…]. In Hege Børrud Huseby & Pia Cederholm (Eds.), Museumsutstillinger. Å forstå, skape og vurdere natur— og kulturhistoriske utstillinger (pp. 215-232). Trondheim: Museumsforlaget.

[9] Bothner—By, Annelise Rosemary. (2015). Refleksjoner. Møter i Utstillingsrommet. [Reflections. Meetings in the exhibition room]. Program for kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid. Oslo: Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo.

[10] Brattbakk, Ingar; Andersen, Bengt; Landsverk Hagen, Aina; Ruud, MaritEkne; Ander, Hannah E.; Breistrand, Hanna; Skajaa, Joakim & Dalseide, Astrid M. (2017). På sporet av det nye Grønland. Sosiokulturell stedsanalyse av Grønland i Bydel Gamle Oslo. [Tracking the new Groenland. Sociocultural place—analysis of Groenland in Old Oslo]. Oslo: Arbeidsforskningsinstituttet ved HiOA.

[11] Bruun Jensen, Klaus. (Ed.) (2012). A handbook of media and communication research. London and New York: Routledge.

[12] Clarke, Simon. (2008). Culture and Identity. In Tony Bennett & John Frow (Eds.), The Sage handbook of cultural analysis (pp. 510-529). London: Sage.

[13] Clasen, Sophie. (2018). How to address a digital group in a digital world. Term paper for course MoK2300 Information, Communication and Social Media. OsloMet — Oslo Metropolitan University, spring term 2018 (unpublished).

[14] Clifford, James. (1997). Routes. Travel and translation in the late twentieth century. Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press.

[15] Goodnow, Katherine & Akman, Haci. (Eds.) (2008). Scandinavian museums and cultural diversity. Museum and Diversity series. London: Museum of London and Bergahn Books.

[16] Fuchs, Christian. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[17] Gluggvasshaug, Solveig. (2018). Communication strategy for Intercultural Museum focusing on Instagram. Term paper for course MoK2300 Information, Communication and Social Media. OsloMet — Oslo Metropolitan University, spring term 2018 (unpublished).

[18] Gripsrud, Jostein. (2017). Allmenningen. Historien om norsk offentlighet. [The Commons. The story of Norwegian public space] Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

[19] Habermas, Jürgen. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Thomas Burger (trans). MIT Press: Cambridge MA. Originally published in German as Habermas, J. (1962). Strukturwandel der Ö ffentlicheit. Hermann Luchterhand Verlag: Darmstadt and Neuwied.

[20] Hellevik, Ottar & Hellevik, Tale. (2017). Utviklingen i synet på innvandrere og innvandring i Norge. [The development of how immigrants and immigration are seen]. Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning, 58(3), 250-283.

[21] Hoffmann, Christhard & Moe, Vibeke. (2017). Holdninger til jøder og muslimer i Norge 2017. [Attitudes to Jews and Muslims in Norway]. Befolkningsundersøkelse og minoritetsstudie. Oslo: HL—senteret.

[22] Hoydahl, Even. (2015). Innvandrere på Oslokartet. [Immigrants in the map of Oslo] Samfunnsspeilet 3, Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå.

[23] International Council of Museums. (2018). Annual report 2017, accessed 10 February 2019 https://icom.museum/en/

[24] International Telecommunications Union. (2019). Measuring the Information Society. Executive Summary 2018, accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU—D/Statistics/Documents/publications/misr2018/MISR2018—ESPDF—E.pdf

[25] Ipsos. (2019). ‘Ipsos SoMe tracker 04’18’, accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.ipsos.com/nb—no/ipsos—some—tracker—q418

[26] Iversen, LarsLeird. (2014). Uenighetsfellesskapet. Blikk på demokratisk samhandling. [The community of dissension. A look at democratic interaction]. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

[27] Kantar Media. (2019). Social Media Trends 2019, accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.kantarmedia.com

[28] Kjeldstadli, Knut & Brochmann, Grethe. (2014). Innvandringen til Norge 900—2010. [Immigration to Norway 900—2010]. Oslo:Pax.

[29] Kleven, Øyvin. (2017). Lavere deltakelse blant innvandrere. Statistics Norway, 4. September 2017, accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.ssb.no/valg/artikler—og—publikasjoner/lavere—deltakelse—blant—innvandrerne

[30] Kong, Lily. (2010). Creative economy, global city: Globalizing discourses and the implications for local arts. In Helmut Anheier & Raj Isar Yudhishthir (Eds.), Cultural expression, creativity and innovation. (pp. 166-176). London: Sage.

[31] Lentini, Gabriella. (2018). How prejudices affect people. Term paper for course MoK2300 Information, Communication and Social Media. OsloMet — Oslo Metropolitan University, spring term 2018 (unpublished).

[32] Lovdata. (2019). Lov om kommuner og fylkeskommuner [Acton municipalities and counties], accessed 10 February 2019. https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1992—09—25—107

[33] Lundgaard, Hilde & Moe, Ingvild. (2018). Dette er en ghetto. Nåskal den bort. [This is a ghetto. Now it has to disappear]. Aftenposten, 21 April 2018.

[34] Mairesse, François. (2016). (Ed.) Nouvelles tendances de la muséologie. Collection Musées—Mondes. Paris: La documentation Française.

[35] MeermanScott, David. (2015). The new rules of marketing and PR. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

[36] Midtboen, Arnfinn H. & Lidén, Hilde. (2015). Diskriminering av samer, nasjonale minoriteter og innvandrere i Norge. En kunnskapsgjennomgang. [Discrimination of the Sami, national minorities and immigrants in Norway]. Rapport 2015, p.01. Oslo: Institutt for samfunnsforskning.

[37] Ministry of Culture. (2018). Museums and cultural heritage, accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/kud/id545/

[38] Moerlie, Clyde & Vaagan, Robert Wallace. (2019). Diversity and Media in the Netherlands and Norway. In Ahmet Atay & Margaret D’Silva (Eds.), Mediated intercultural communication in a digital age (pp.147-170). New York: Routledge.

[39] Naguib, Saphinaz—Amal. (2013a). La politique de la diversité dans un musée sans collection, l’Interkulturelt Museum d’Oslo. In Denis Chevallier (Ed.), Métamorphoses des musées de société, Collection Musées—Mondes (pp. 105-110). Paris: La Documentation Française.

[40] Naguib, Saphinaz—Amal. (2013b). Collecting moments of life. Museums and the intangible heritage of migration. Museum International, 65(257—260), 77-86.

[41] Naguib, Saphinaz—Amal. (2013c). Museums, diasporas and the sustainability of intangible cultural heritage: Sustainability 5, 2178-2190; doi: 10.3390/su5052178.

[42] NDLA (Nasjonal Digital Læringsarena). (2017). Accessed 10 February 2019 http://ndla.no/nb/node/113438

[43] Nurse, Keith. (2010). Diasporic spaces: Migration, hybridity and the geocultural turn. In Helmut Anheier & Raj Isar Yudhishthir (Eds.), Cultural expression, creativity and innovation (pp.78-85). London: Sage.

[44] Oslo municipality. (2019). ‘Statistikkbanken. Befolkningen etter landbakgrunn fordelt på bydeler og delbydeler’ [Statistics Bank. The population according to national background grouped after neighbourhoods and burroughs], accessed 10 February 2019. http://statistikkbanken.oslo.kommune.no/webview/

[45] Oslo Museum — Intercultural Museum. (2019). Accessed 12 February 2019. https://www.oslomuseum.no/oslo—museum/english/

[46] Pratt, Mary Louise. (1992). Imperial eyes: Travel writing and transculturation. Routledge: London.

[47] Sevincer, Vedat; Biseth, Heidi & Vaagan, Robert Wallace. (2018). Faktuell: Youths as journalists in online newspapers and magazines in Norway. In Yvonne Andersson, Ulf Dalquist & Jonas Ohlsson (Eds.), Youth and news in a digital media environment — Nordic—Baltic perspectives (pp. 11-19). Gothenburg: Nordicom.

[48] Simon, Nina. (2010). The participatory museum. Museum: Santa Cruz, CA.

[49] Skartveit, Hanne—Lovise & Goodnow, Katherine. (Eds.) (2010). Changes in museum practice. New media, refugees and participation. Museum and Diversity series. London: Museum of London and Bergahn Books.

[50] Statistics Norway. (2019). Fakta om innvandring, [Facts about immigration], accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.ssb.no/innvandring—og—innvandrere/faktaside/innvandring

[51] Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1948, 2019). Accessed 10 February 2019. https://www.un.org/en/universal—declaration—human—rights/

[52] Vaagan, Robert Wallace. (2015). Medieskapt. Medier i informasjons— og kommunikasjonssamfunnet. [Media—driven. Media in the age of information and communication]. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

[53] Vaagan, Robert Wallace. (2018a). Intercultural communication and globalization. Intercultural Communication Studies, 2017, 26(2), 1-6.

[54] Vaagan, Robert Wallace. (2018b). Media education at OsloMet: Balancing demand, practice and internships. Kognitywistyka i Media w Edukacji, 2018(2), 169-177.

[55] Vaage, Odd Frank. (2018). Norsk mediebarometer 2017. Oslo: Statistics Norway.