Preliminary Programme

The aim of this paper is to explore the memorialisation of 19thC Highland emigration in Scotland through two memory media: museums and monuments. Demographic changes are one of the central themes and issues in the history of the Highland Clearances, in particular the emigration of the local population - whether it was forced or voluntary; whether it was the mark of constructive entrepreneurial spirit and opportunism or the desperate flight of a dejected people. If the Highland landscape is peppered with ruined dwellings and townships, more formal monuments have been erected to commemorate the departure of Highlanders. Similarly emigration has also become a notable feature of museum narratives of 19thC Highland history which follow exiles to their new destinations. It is as much the Scots abroad as the departing Scots who are celebrated. The paper will consider the following aspects:
- The emigration narrative(s) given pride of place: the tropes and iconography used.
- The social arena involved, in particular the role of the Scottish ‘diaspora’ in the commemorative and / or museological processes.
- The economics and politics of emigration remembrance. (Show less)

Generally speaking the very rich European migration history has not yet found adequate entrance into historiography and the collective memories of European nation states. Immigrants and their histories live on the fringes of our historical consciousness and they are also neglected when it comes to the historical cultural organisation of public space. This is especially true in Austria, where migration is still a neglected topic in official remembrance policy and activities and where public space is virtually free of anything that would point to the recognition of national, regional or local migration histories, especially regarding the younger migration history of the country.

In the presentation the conceptual outline, the theoretical grounding and first results of a new research project (Lieux de mémoire of migration in urban spaces: the example of Vienna) will be presented and put up for discussion. The basic idea and aim of the project is to elaborate a “remembrance topography” of (im)migration for Vienna. The main research interest is to empirically grasp, illustrate and portray sites of remembrance of migration in Vienna and to analyse their histories of origin, their (change of) meaning for different groups, struggles and conflicts about meaning(s) and interpretations(s) and the roles of different actors in the field of remembrance policy regarding migration in the majority society as well as among immigrants. The study makes use of Pierre Nora’s concept lieux de mémoire and adopts it in a way to fill the “remembrance gap” regarding the Vienna/Austrian migration history that is pertinent in both the national and the urban context. A special focus will be put on street names, memorial plaques and monuments. On the other hand, the project will explore the communicative memories of immigrants (and their descendants) in Vienna and trace those lieux de mémoire, those symbolic places meaningful to them and will therewith also contribute to a “migration history from below”. (Show less)

During the latter part of the 20th century societies all over the world became more diversified due to intensified globalisation- and migration processes and migration-related issues have been on the agenda of Swedish museums fore some decades, but it was in the beginning of this century that the interest sharply increased. The aim of this paper is to, from theoretical inspiration from James Clifford, discuss how some museums in Sweden have dealt with the challenge of representing immigration and cultural diversity.
James Clifford developed the notion of the museum as a ”contact zone”, a kind of democratic space where people previously separated by conflicts, inequality and asymmetrical power relations can meet and where interactions and negotiation are enabled. This for example means that in the contact zone the initiative to co-operations is transferred from ideas of creative curators to calls for representation from a culturally diverse civil society. Clifford’s very optimistic notion of the museums has been discussed and questioned, i.e. by Mary Stevens who highlights the risk that the museums rather than open for dialogue can cause or strengthen rivalry among immigrant groups and ethnic minorities. She for example means that when the museum in particular focus on and works with one ethnic group this might mean that other groups are not given equal access to the museum, to recognition and to self-empowerment.
My research shows that cultural museums in Sweden more and more have begun to involve immigrant groups and ethnic minorities in the museums’ work and in that the museums both have the possibility to become a zone of contact and a zone of conflict. With examples taken from some exhibitions and events at Swedish museums highlighting various aspects of migration and diversity I will discuss the following questions: Who was given a voice in the exhibitions and other events, and in which way? Who takes part in and who dominates the production process in which the representations are shaped? What does the representations look like? Which contacts and conflicts are generated in the production process? (Show less)

What have we done to Armando Rodrigues?
On September 10th 1964 Germany hailed the “one millionth” labor migrant recruited in southern Europe as a “Gastarbeiter” when Armando Rodrigues de Sá was randomly picked from the transportation list of the train which carried him to Cologne and the “magic number” got assigned to him. The event was staged at Cologne/Deutz station and received extensive media coverage. Since 1964 pictures taken on that day – and through them the puzzled face of Armando Rodriguez – have become icons in various representations of labor migration to Germany during the post war economic boom.
The proposed paper uses this historical event to trace the construction of representations and collective memories within specific spheres: Fist, the event itself is scrutinized to present the actual historical background and the “realities” of what actually happened and what was intended on the date of Armando Rodrigues’ arrival. Secondly, the legacy of the “one millionth guest worker” in public discourses will be traced as represented in the media, academic publications as well as a number of events modeled after the 1964 ceremony. Thirdly, the memoralization of the “Armando Rodriguez” complex will be analyzed using its representation in the “Haus der Geschichte” (Bonn) on the one hand and within the original setting at Cologne/Deutz station on the other.
The presentation aims at linking up a highly significant historical event and its transformation through various processes connected to the construction of memories and representations of migration in Germany. Key actors who drive such processes and their intentions will be identified as well as the varying roles those transformations played in the negotiation of Germanys identity as a non-immigration/immigration country. This will finally lead to a measure of the distance between historical events and their representations as determined by the purposes and intentions which drive such processes. (Show less)