City Museum in a Transcultural Europe

The essay constitutes the first chapter of the book "Museums and Migration: History, Memory and Politics", edited by Laurence Gourievidis (Blaise Pascal University, Clermont-Ferrand, France).Museums and Migration charts and enlarges the developing body of research which concentrates on the analysis of the representation of migration in relation to the changing character of museums within society, examining their civic role and their function as key public arenas within civil society. It also aims to inform debates focusing on the way museums interact with processes of political and societal changes, and examining their agency and relationship to identity construction, community involvement, policy positions and discourses, but also ethics and moralities. Through the presentation of the experiences carried out by several city museums, this essay aims at depicting the ongoing change affecting them, and exploring the potential of these museums in the reconfiguration and promotion of a new multifaceted sense of belonging and identity in Europe.