According to Nemo, the networks of European museum organizations, the social role of museums goes far beyond their traditional functions. In an increasingly polarized world, museums can play a key role in promoting dialogue and social cohesion, encourage discussion, and can also act as social integration centers. By bringing foreign cultures closer, they can also change the view of the labor market.
– Today, museums are very dynamically developing and changing institutions. We once thought that it was work on facilities, in stock, describing museums, archival work, today we know that this is primarily contact with the audience – emphasizes in an interview with the Newseria agency dr Magdalena Wróblewska, director of the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw. – It is an opportunity to shape new programs that go beyond traditional museum activities, develop objects, make them available in the form of exhibitions or publications. It is about establishing a dialogue with various social groups.
Museums are not only traditional exhibits repositories. The NEMO European Museum Organization Network estimates that they play a key role in promoting dialogue and social cohesion. As trusted institutions, they can provide safe spaces for discussion on urgent problems or controversial issues. Using their strengths in trust, building empathy and telling stories, museums can increase their influence by becoming active participants in the development of social life.
– In museums there is the largest field to look for new solutions, non -standard approaches in creating a program for the audience, in building relationships with various social groups, and establishing dialogue. This is a place where we have space for experiment, searching for new, so far unpracthed solutions – indicates Magdalena Wróblewska.
An example would be the “Contrary to stereotypes” program, which the Ethnographic Museum wants to replace stereotypes regarding the perception of Africa in Europe with a fuller and more adequate image. The exhibition of photography “Afrotopie”, which is part of this program, allows you to look at Africa through the eyes of 18 people from the countries of the East and West of this continent, and thus realize the stereotypes produced by press and reporting relations, by photographs of tourists or employees of humanitarian mission. In turn, the “whitening” exhibition aims to show and overcome the restrictions characteristic of the traditionally understood closing of Africa in the museum.
– The program “Contrary to stereotypes”, which is implemented at the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, concerns how different stereotypes, which have so far been shaped about the countries of Sub -Saharan, Eastern and West Africa, weighted on our perception of these communities. In this program, we try to reflect images that we have recorded in memory, images that show either countries harassed by hunger, natural disasters, wars, or on the other hand beautiful African landscapes. We want to reverse these paintings, negate and show contemporary Africa as its inhabitants see it – explains the director of the museum.
As he emphasizes, the shown photographs are not only to break stereotypes, but also to remind you that “Africa is not the state”, but the place of many cultures, history, traditions and community, and the challenges that stand from them, do not differ significantly from those from which the rest of the world faces.
The program of the State Ethnographic Museum can play an important role in increasing awareness about the inhabitants of Africa, who are increasingly deciding to work in Poland. A report on the survey study “Migrants in Polish companies”, conducted by Legalito, the EWL Foundation and the Study of Eastern Europe of the University of Warsaw, indicates that people from Africa work in approx. 42 percent. companies that currently employ foreigners from outside the EU. For comparison, employees from Asia are employed in about 60 percent. enterprises, as far as Ukraine – in 96 percent However, this percentage may increase. 61 percent surveyed enterprises admitted that it is planning to increase the number of employed foreigners from outside the EU, and 23 percent. Of them, he just wants to employ African citizens.
The GI Group report “Employing foreigners in Poland. Challenges and opportunities” shows that employers see the fears and resistance of Polish employees towards cooperation with foreigners. Most often the cause of these fears are language and communication barriers (36.5 percent) as well as stereotypes and prejudices among Polish employees (31 percent). This phenomenon is noticeable especially in the largest enterprises, which may result from the scale effect – the greater the organization, the more people, and thus, the greater probability of such attitudes.
– The “Contrary to stereotypes” program allows you to reverse some thinking about employees who come to Poland from various Sub -Saharan African countries. Due to the fact that we show Africa and its inhabitants in a way that deviates from these harmful clichés and fixed images, we allow to stimulate some empathy and sensitivity, see them in other roles than we would assign them stereotypically. In this sense, it can be said that we give new opportunities on the labor market to various communities, we give a chance for a new look at new employers on them and their skills – argues Dr. Magdalena Wróblewska.
The “Afrotopie” exhibition will be available to visitors until mid -September this year.
