My research question in particular has changed over the course of the semester. As I've done more and more research into my topic and talked more to my professors about the Hostile Terrain exhibition I've shifted my question to become more focused. My purpose in the exhibition will be more public and community outreach and helping to table writing events that contribute to the exhibition. To follow in line with my purpose in the exhibition I've made my research question this: "How do museums and exhibitions engage visitors and their communities with contemporary human rights issues, such as the humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border?" Now I've taken a greater focus in visitor/community engagement and contemporary human rights issues. I have also found two case examples for my research which I've already begun to read about! I am using the Tenement and Holocaust Museums in New York City. Each one has amazing projects to reach out to their visitors and surrounding communities to engage with not only historical, but contemporary human rights issues such as immigration, refugees, genocide, and antisemitism. From this I see my research evolving to include doing short impromptu interviews with people in the writing sessions for the Hostile Terrain Exhibition to gain insight on their feelings and thoughts about engaging with this material and about being a part of the exhibition.
Hey, Rachel! Looks like you're pretty confident about which direction you're headed in. That's great! I'm curious about the interviews: Will they be one-on-one? I know that the Tenement Museum has group interview/discussion sessions after a tour. One-on-one interview might give individuals more time to go in-depth about their thoughts, but a group interview might allow visitor to bounce ideas and insights off of each other. They both have their pros and cons. I'm interested to see how you develop this.
ReplyDeleteRefining, refining, refining. One issue to consider, too, is the labor dispute of late at the Tenement Museum.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could include Bryan Stevenson's example which I have not seen, but addresses critical issues today—lynching to mass incarceration. See https://museumandmemorial.eji.org