[BCMA] Conference Speaking Opportunity - Canadian Museums and Syrian Refugees

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Hi, gang.  I recently completed a term paper for my Master's Degree program at the University of Leicester which focused on the role museums can play with refugees, in the context of Canada and the Syrian Refugee crisis.


As Canada's response to the Syrian refugee crisis was playing out in 2015, I started to wonder how Canadian museums might respond to the crisis, how they were responding, and if there was a theoretical basis for doing so.  In short: 1) what does refugee theory tell us about the needs of refugees, 2) what activity in museums (anywhere) appears well-matched to these needs, 3) what Canadian museums are currently doing this sort of work; 4) what are the opportunities for Canadian museums to be of service to Syrian refugees?


For the paper, I interviewed a number of Canadian museum directors and museums association directors.  It turns out there has been a lot of interest in this research and all participants agreed the conversation needed to continue.  After a couple of publication requests and discussions about conference speaking opportunities, I have sought and received permission from my University and those I interviewed to re-use this material.


I'm thinking about making a presentation with a panel discussion component at BCMA's 2016 conference about this topic.  In it, I would briefly review my research (i.e. where refugee needs theory and museum theory intersect) and then turn it over to 3-4 BC museums to talk about their actual work with refugees, how it's going, and what they have learned in terms of the challenges and opportunities.  We would close with a Q&A session and look to attendees to suggest even more ways in which BC museums are serving refugees.


So this note is a "feeler" to the BCMA Listerv to see what museums in BC are doing work with refugees and to see who might be interested in participating in the panel described at the BCMA Conference this fall.


I'd welcome your thoughts!


Best


Jim Cullen

Calgary, Alberta





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20160418/58075ae4/attachment.htm