The Aftermaths of Participation

How do participatory museum projects with forced migrants impact both the museum and the participants? Based on interviews with museum practitioners, mediators and project participants, Susanne Boersma brings together unique insights into museum work with forced migrants. She assesses projects in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to illustrate how museums' (post)colonial infrastructures limit the potential of their increasingly social role. This study reveals the diverging objectives, experiences and outcomes of participatory projects, and finds ways in which these might be united in practice.