Contentious terrain: defining a human rights museology

The work of museums is changing, radically. As the global rise of museums and museum networks dedicated to the subject of human rights over the past few decades has confirmed, museums can be beneficial to the dialog and ongoing negotiation of human rights between civil society and government institutions. Indeed, the foundational roles of museums as places of collecting, conserving and exhibiting artifacts of material culture have shifted significantly over the last quarter century in response to calls for greater social accountability to pressing contemporary issues – human rights, the environment, immigration and social justice among them. Human rights museums have specific responsibilities, however, and the positions these institutions take on human rights have both the opportunity and the danger of affecting human rights of future generations – a task these museums must consider with the greatest ethical sensibilities and concerns.