University of Bergen, PhD course:
Museums: Issues of Diversity, Narrative and Design
A joint course to be run with the Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway and the
School of Cultural and Innovation Studies, University of East London, U.K.
The focus of the course is narrative design and issues of diversity in museums.
Lectures will cover the following areas:
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Museum exhibitions on migration and refugees – design, narratives, voice and
audiences;
Representations of refugees - in political discourse and the media; historical
change, challenge and dissent.
Images of nation, grand narratives and multicultural silences.
The course will be run in two parts and in two locations. The first part of the course will
be held in Bergen, from September 5, 2006. The second part of the course will be held in
London, from November 2, 2006. Both courses run over 2 days.
Part 1: Bergen, September 5 – 6 2006
2-day seminar on representation, narrative and design. See program attached below.
PhD students are invited to give a presentation of a paper and their projects during these
two days. Students may also participate in workshops on museum design which will
include aspects of new media.
Part 2: London, November 2 - 3
A 2-day seminar on representation of diversity and migration as they relate to museums.
Day 1:
Viewing of the Museum of London’s new exhibition on refugees – Belonging.
Presentations by the Museum’s key curators on working with communities, narratives
and design issues.
Day 2:
Symposium in the lecture theatre, Museum of London.
PhD students may give a presentation of a paper and their projects during these two days
upon application.
Application: Students must apply by August 15, 2006 to
kate.goodnow@infomedia.uib.no. Students must attach an abstract of their thesis, the
short paper they wish to deliver, and confirmation of their status as PhD students from
their home institution.
Evaluation:
Students must deliver an essay (either 3000 or 5000 word) in electronic form to Associate
Professor Katherine Goodnow, by November 1, 2006: kate.goodnow@infomedia.uib.no
Students who have participated in the entire course, presented a short paper (20 minutes)
at the conference and have had their essay (5000 word) approved by the course
coordinators will receive confirmation of course credits equivalent to 10 ECTS. Students
who participate in only one of the two-day seminars and have approved a 3000 word
essay will receive 5 ECTS credits.
Bergen - Speakers include:
Haci Ackman, Associate Professor, Department for Cultural Studies and Art History,
University of Bergen
Mette Andersson, Associate Professor, Centre for International Migration and Ethnic
Relations, University of Bergen
Odd Are Berkaak, Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo
Liv Hilde Boe, Senior Curator, Norwegian Folk Museum
Veronica Córdova, Senior lecturer, Department of Information Science and Media
Studies, University of Bergen
Anita Fabos, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader, MA Refugee Studies, School of
Cultural and Innovation Studies, University of East London
Katherine Goodnow, Associate Professor, Department of Information Science and Media
Studies, University of Bergen
Lene Johannesen, Research Fellow, Department of English, University of Bergen
Yngve Lithman, Professor, Centre for International Migration and Ethnic Relations,
University of Bergen
Jack Lohman, Professor, Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Director, Museum of
London and Chairman, International Council of Museums-UK.
Phil Marfleet, Professor, School of Cultural and Innovation Studies, University of East
London
Janne Mellingen, Researcher, Department for Cultural Studies and Art History,
University of Bergen
Gaudencia Mutema, Researcher, Centre for Gender Studies, University of Bergen
Bente Guro Møller, Director, International Cultural Centre and Museum, Oslo
Per Rekdal, Head, Exhibitions, Education and Public Services, Museums of Cultural
History, University of Oslo
Torgeir Skorgen, Associate Professor, Department for Cultural Studies and Art History,
University of Bergen
Line Ytrehus, Associate Professor in Intercultural Understanding, Norwegian Teacher
Academy
London - Speakers include (list not as yet complete):
Baroness Young of Hornsey, Visiting Professor at Birkbeck College, University of
London and Professor Emeritus of Cultural Studies at Middlesex University, Project
Director for the National Museum and Archive of Black History and Culture
Professor Phil Marfleet, School of Cultural and Innovation Studies, University of East
London
Dr. Darryl McIntyre, Director of Public Programmes, Museum of London
Reading list:
Boswell, D. and Evans, J. (Eds.) (1999) Representing the nation : a reader : histories,
heritage and museums London : Routledge (pp. 1 – 45 and 233 – 459. In all 271 pp)
Goodnow, K (2006) Challenge and Transformation: Museums in Cape Town and
Sydney. UNESCO: Paris (220 pp)
Gullestad, M. (2001) “Home, local community and nation: connections of national
identity”, 1997. Focaal no 30/31. pp 39 – 60 (22 pp).
Hylland Eriksen, T. (2001) "Being Norwegian in a Shrinking World. Reflections on
Norwegian Identity." In: Kiel, A.C. (ed.). Continuity and Change: Aspects of
Contemporary Norway, Oslo: Scandinavian University Press . pp.11 – 37 (27 pp).
Lohman, J. (2006) “Design and Diversity: Future World Museums”. In Goodnow, K
(2006) Challenge and Transformation: Museums in Cape Town and Sydney. UNESCO:
Paris (7pp)
Rekdal, P. B. (2001) Norwegian museums and the multicultural challenge – principles
and practices in exhibition and education. Oslo: Norsk Museumsutvikling (124 pp)
(http://www.abm-utvikling.no/publisert/fulltekst/nmu3-2001/index.html for English.
http://www.abm-utvikling.no/publisert/fulltekst/nmu7-1999/NMU%207-1999.pdf for
Norwegian). It may also be ordered for free from:
ABM-utvikling, Postboks 8145 Dep, 0033 OSLO
Ytrehus, L.A. (2001) Images of Otherness. Edited by Line Alice Ytrehus. Kristiansand:
Høyskoleforlaget AS. (pp. 246)
Museum Design: September Program in Bergen
The program is divided into five sessions:
 Narratives of nation, narratives of others. This opening session is concerned with
the ways in which the formation of nation-identities has taken place and how
these affect images and conceptions of minority “others”.

Museum exhibition and practice. What is current practice in museums? How do
these representations reflect the breadth of discourses and rhetoric surrounding
refugees and asylum seekers?
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Refugee narratives. This session continues the concern about the narratives and
contexts in which representations are made. It moves also beyond museum
representations to look at how refugee representations have been told and framed
in other media and political discourse.
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Experiences of displacement/self-representation. How do stories of displacement
and exile emerge in other media? What lessons might be learnt for museum
narratives?
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PhD student contributions
Day One: September 5, 2006
10.15 – 10.30
Welcome: Jack Lohman
10.30 - 13.00
Session 1: Narratives of nation, narratives of others
Introduction: Yngve Lithman
Phil Marfleet Narratives of nation: 'silencing' refugees
Gaudencia Mutema Re-imagining community after the Rwandan genocide
Mette Andersson: Global integration in the nation? Ethnic minority sports heroes and the
issue of representation
Torgeir Skorgen Ibsens satire on the selective memory of nation-building in Peer Gynt
Odd Are Berkaak Lost horizons: The ship in the national imaginary
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 17.00 (with coffee/tea breaks)
Session 2: Museum exhibition and practice
Introduction: Jack Lohman – Belonging – U.K. practices
Katherine Goodnow – Australian migration and refugee exhibitions
Hanne-Lovise Skartveit – Migration and refugee exhibitions in the U.S.
Per Rekdal – Upstairs and Downstairs in Norwegian Museums and Cultural Politics.
Liv Hilde Boe – Norsk Folkemuseum: Norwegian today, yesterday, tomorrow?
Bente Guro Møller – ”As in a mirror?"- Reflections on challenges and paradoxes in
multiculturalism
Janne Mellingen and Haci Ackman: Norsk-Kurdisk museum – virtual and personal
stories
Day Two: September 6, 2006
9.15 – 11.00:
Session 3: Refugee narratives
Introduction: Kate Goodnow
Phil Marfleet Refugees and media discourse: responsibilities and practices
Line Ytrehus: (to come)
Coffee/Tea Break with snack
11.30 – 13.00
Session 4: Experiences of displacement/self-representation
Introduction: Verónica Córdova S., Cinema and displacement – Latin America
Anita Fabos Family Encounters: Representing Stories of Home and Exile for First- and
Second-generation Hungarian
Lene Johannesen Diasporan Narratives: Displacement and the Problem of the Boundary
in Anita Desai's Baumgartner's Bombay
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14.00 – 16.30
Session 5: PhD contributions (incomplete list)
Wu Heng – China: Ethnographic Museums
Ana-Luisa Laws-Sanchez – Panamanian Museums, History and Memory
Nina Svane-Mikkelsen – Museums, Knowledge and Diversity