Starting from a particular case
My description is based on a series of experiences with a specific migration museum, MigratieMuseumMigration (MMM), located in Brussels. MMM operates in a 'bottom-up' and 'in-progress' manner. The first floor, which serves as a permanent exhibition, provides a view of Brussels' super-diversity through dioramas featuring oral life stories, photos, and emotionally significant objects. The second floor aims to create an immersive experience, showcasing wreckage from Lampedusa. An outdoor staircase leads to a garden, where group visits typically conclude with a dialogue or workshop.
Knowledge creation
After their visit, some visitors wish to leave behind their own life stories. There may be several reasons for this: perhaps stories about their community are missing, or they may want to contribute with additional perspectives. Temporary exhibitions, often created in collaboration with civil society organizations, are particularly suited to museological reconstructions, especially when they focus on the arrival periods of different communities.
One example is the exhibition "On est là." In 2024, MMM commemorates the signing of the Belgian protocols with Morocco and Turkey. As part of this exhibition, interviews were conducted with 100 Moroccan and Turkish workers (or their family members) from the 1960s, lasting 30 to 60 minutes each. It is fascinating to hear how, at that time, migrants shared information—sometimes on scraps of paper—about the informal routes they used, as well as tips about shelters and information points in cities upon arrival. These insights contribute to refining researchers' understanding.
Knowledge dissemination
Knowledge dissemination can be structural and/or temporary. For example, a municipality or neighborhood may request to borrow part of a permanent or temporary exhibition to display in an emblematic location. Alternatively, the museum can develop such offerings on its own. This presents a concrete opportunity for popularizing acquired knowledge and fostering new, locally situated insights. In this context, MMM is evolving into a territorial museum. At MMM, dissemination occurs in various ways. One such example is the MMM Academy, which offers a series of short videos and lectures about different communities and themes, providing insights into Brussels' migration history and super-diversity, delivered by researchers and academics.
Knowledge conservation
Museums may also archive certain external collections, although it is often more appropriate to store them within universities. However, there are instances when a collection is so specific, and yet so valuable, that universities may not be interested in taking care of it.
Knowledge transmission
Creation, dissemination and conservation are all essential components of a migration museum’s mission. In such bottom-up and interactive setting, equal emphasis is placed on experience and empathetic care. This combination of knowledge transmission, personal experience, and engagement is what migration museums typically aim to convey.