Peace Education and Historical Empathy in the Museum Field : The Case Study of the State of Emergency Exhibition at the Muisti Centre of War and Peace
Tiusanen, Sanni (2023)
2023
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-05-18
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305024940
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305024940
Tiivistelmä
Muisti Centre of War and Peace opened in June 2021, being the first science centre in Finland to focus on humanities and social sciences. Muisti, then, breaks the conventional divisions between science centres and museums and presents something new in the field. The first exhibition, State of Emergency, focuses on the Second World War in Finland, its human cost, and its societal effects. This research focuses on Muisti’s peace education agenda and how historical empathy is constructed to support it. New museum theory is used to explain the changes the museum field has undergone in the past decades as well as to contextualise Muisti among these so-called ‘new’ museums. The research is based on the State of Emergency exhibition and three expert interviewees with employees of Muisti. Museum exhibition analysis is used to capture all aspects of State of Emergency for analysis, and the interviews shed light on the thought processes and decision-making behind the exhibition design and content. Finally, a thematic analysis of the interview and the exhibition data is conducted to identify the reoccurring topics and concepts.
The research finds that Muisti’s current peace education agenda relies on telling visitors about the past so they would be motivated to act for peace today. Historical empathy is used as a tool that allows visitors to see the similarities between themselves and the people of the past, creating a better understanding of how it felt to live through the Second World War. This more affective, personal understanding of what type of consequences the war has on individuals is assumed to lead to people opposing violence. These lines of thinking are common in new museums focusing on violent pasts and connect Muisti to this wider international group of museums. The research also finds that there are certain uncertainties on how to conduct peace education in practice, and how to handle its political connotations in the Finnish context. It argues that including a wider range of voices in the exhibition would be a practical act of peace education. Finally, the research also concludes that the current conceptualisation of peace education in the Nordics reflects only the perspective of the majority, requiring a revision to portray the true state of affairs in the region.
The research finds that Muisti’s current peace education agenda relies on telling visitors about the past so they would be motivated to act for peace today. Historical empathy is used as a tool that allows visitors to see the similarities between themselves and the people of the past, creating a better understanding of how it felt to live through the Second World War. This more affective, personal understanding of what type of consequences the war has on individuals is assumed to lead to people opposing violence. These lines of thinking are common in new museums focusing on violent pasts and connect Muisti to this wider international group of museums. The research also finds that there are certain uncertainties on how to conduct peace education in practice, and how to handle its political connotations in the Finnish context. It argues that including a wider range of voices in the exhibition would be a practical act of peace education. Finally, the research also concludes that the current conceptualisation of peace education in the Nordics reflects only the perspective of the majority, requiring a revision to portray the true state of affairs in the region.