MUSEUMS AND SITES OF PERSUASION Museums and Sites of Persuasion examines the concept of museums and memory sites as locations that attempt to promote human rights, democracy and peace. Dem­ onstrating that such sites have the potential to act as powerful spaces of persua­ sion or contestation, the book also shows that there are perils in the selective memory and history that they present. Examining a range of museums, memorials and exhibits in places as varied as Burundi, Denmark, Georgia, Kosovo, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and the US, this volume demon­ strates how they represent and try to come to terms with difficult histories. As sites of persuasion, the contributors to this book argue, their public goal is to use memory and education about the past to provide moral lessons to visitors that will encourage a more democratic and peaceful future. However, the case studies also demonstrate how political, economic and social realities often undermine this lofty goal, raising questions about how these sites of persuasion actually function on a daily basis. Straddling several interdisciplinary fields of research and study, Museums and Sites of Persuasion will be essential reading for those working in the fields of museum studies, memory studies and genocide studies. It will also be essential reading for museum practi­ tioners and anyone engaged in the study of history, sociology, political science, anthro­ pology and art history. Joyce Apsel is Clinical Professor in Liberal Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences at New York University and President of the Institute for the Study of Genocide. She is the author of Introducing Peace Museums (2016) and her co-edited publications include Genocide Matters: Ongoing Issues and New Perspectives (2014) and Museums for Peace: Transforming Cultures (2012). Her research interests include comparative genocide, human rights, pedagogy, and peace and museum studies. Amy Sodaro is Associate Professor of Sociology at Borough of Manhattan Community College/City University of New York. Her research focuses on memorialization of atrocity, particularly in memorial museums. She is the co-editor of Memory and the Future: Trans­ national Politics, Ethics and Culture (2010) and author of Exhibiting Atrocity: Memorial Museums and the Politics of Past Violence (2018). Museum Meanings Series Editors: Richard Sandell and Christina Kreps Museums have undergone enormous changes in recent decades; an ongoing process of renewal and transformation bringing with it changes in priority, practice and role as well as new expectations, philosophies, imperatives and tensions that continue to attract attention from those working in, and drawing upon, wide-ranging disciplines. Museum Meanings presents new research that explores diverse aspects of the shift­ ing social, cultural and political significance of museums and their agency beyond, as well as within, the cultural sphere. Interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and international perspectives and empirical investigation are brought to bear on the exploration of museums’ relationships with their various publics (and analysis of the ways in which museums shape – and are shaped by – such interactions). Theoretical perspectives might be drawn from anthropology, cultural studies, art and art history, learning and communication, media studies, architecture and design and material culture studies, amongst others. Museums are understood very broadly – to include art galleries, historic sites and other cultural heritage institutions – as are their relationships with diverse constituencies. The focus on the relationship of the museum to its publics shifts the emphasis from objects and collections and the study of museums as text, to studies grounded in the analysis of bodies and sites; identities and communities; ethics, moralities and politics. Titles include: Museum, Media, Message Edited by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Learning in the Museum George Hein Colonialism and the Object Empire, Material Culture and the Museum Edited by Tim Barringer and Tom Flynn Museum Activism Edited by Robert R. Janes and Richard Sanders Exhibitions for Social Justice Elena Gonzales Museums and Sites of Persuasion Politics, Memory and Human Rights Edited by Joyce Apsel and Amy Sodaro Museums, Sexuality, and Gender Activism Edited by Joshua G. Adair and Amy K. Levin For a full list of titles visit www.routledge.com/Museum-Meanings/book-series/SE0349 MUSEUMS AND SITES OF PERSUASION Politics, Memory and Human Rights Edited by Joyce Apsel and Amy Sodaro First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Joyce Apsel and Amy Sodaro; individ- ual chapters, the contributors The right of Joyce Apsel and Amy Sodaro to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. With the exception of Chapter 3, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Chapter 3 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-56535-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-56781-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-56782-5 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Swales & Willis, Exeter, Devon, UK CONTENTS List of figures vii List of contributors ix Acknowledgments xi PART I Museums, politics and persuasion 1 Introduction: memory, politics and human rights 3 Joyce Apsel and Amy Sodaro 1 Selective memory: memorial museums, human rights, and the politics of victimhood 19 Amy Sodaro PART II Writing national histories 37 2 Between traditional and modern museology: exhibiting national history in the Museum of Georgia 39 Malkhaz Toria 3 Curating enslavement and the colonial history of Denmark: the 2017 centennial 56 Astrid Nonbo Andersen vi Contents 4 Kosovo’s NEWBORN monument: persuasion, contestation, and the narrative constructions of past and future 74 Alissa Boguslaw PART III Displaying difficult pasts 89 5 “Inspiration lives here”: struggle, martyrdom, and redemption in Atlanta’s National Center for Civil and Human Rights 91 Joyce Apsel 6 The SơnMy ̃ Memorial and Museum: a continuous memorial ser­ vice to remember and bear witness to the 1968 My ̃ Lai Massacre 116 Roy Tamashiro 7 Memory as persuasion: historical discourse and moral messages at Peru’s Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion 133 Joseph P. Feldman PART IV Resistance through memory 151 8 Mexico City’s Memorial to the Victims of Violence and the façade of participation 153 Benjamin Nienass and Alexandra Délano Alonso 9 Narratives of ethnic and political conflict in Burundian sites of persuasion 174 Sixte Vigny Nimuraba and Douglas Irvin-Erickson Conclusion 193 Joyce Apsel and Amy Sodaro Works cited 198 Index 212 FIGURES 5.1 Front exterior of the CCHR on Pemberton Place. Photo credit: © Albert Vecerka/Esto. 96 5.2 Side and back view of the CCHR. Photo credit: © Albert Vecerka/ Esto. 96 5.3 Interactive exhibits: lunch counter sit-in model and side of Grey­ hound bus with mug shots of arrested Freedom Riders and oral his­ tories. Photo credit: © Albert Vecerka/Esto. 101 5.4 Visitors viewing panorama of film in March on Washington room and additional exhibits. Photo credit: © Albert Vecerka/Esto. 103 5.5 Stained-glass windows in memoriam to martyred girls. Photo credit: © Albert Vecerka/Esto. 105 6.1 Visitors offer flowers at the 50th anniversary memorial service for the My ̃ Lai Massacre at the SơnMy ̃ Memorial. Photo credit: Roy Tamashiro 117 6.2 Tour guide pausing for a silent tribute to her mother who survived the slaughter of 170 villagers at the irrigation ditch. The path has been cemented over with imprints of G.I. boots, and the bare-feet imprints of the fleeing villagers. Photo credit: Roy Tamashiro 121 6.3 Portrait photos in the museum of Pham Thanh Cong at age 11 when he survived the massacre, and Pvt. Vernado Simpson, who described his thoughts and feelings when he killed civilians on March 16, 1968. Photo credit: Composite photo of portraits in SơnMy ̃ Museum by Roy Tamashiro 126 8.1 View of the Memorial to the Victims of Violence. Photo credit: Alexandra Délano Alonso. 155 8.2 Memorial to the Victims of Violence wall with chalk. Photo credit: Benjamin Nienass. 155 8.3 The Comité’s intervention. Photo credit: Benjamin Nienass. 163 viii Figures 8.4 The Comité’s new title for the memorial. Photo credit: Alexandra Délano Alonso. 164 9.1 Kibimba “Plus Jamais Ça!” Memorial. Photo credit: Sixte Vigny Nimuraba. 182 9.2 National Monument in Memory of All the Victims of Burundian Conflicts, or the “Monument to Weapons.” Photo credit: Sixte Vigny Nimuraba. 186 9.3 Martyrs of Brotherhood Monument, Buta Seminary massacre site. Photo credit: Sixte Vigny Nimuraba. 188 CONTRIBUTORS Astrid Nonbo Andersen, Ph.D., is a Postdoc at the Danish Institute for Inter­ national Studies. Her research focuses on the politics of memory and history with a special focus on official apologies, claims for reparation and reconciliation commissions. Her research primarily focuses on Denmark and the former Danish colonies—especially the US Virgin Islands, Greenland and Tharangampadi.