Museums as Places of Trauma and Healing: Processing Visitor Experiences

Memorial museums and atrocity site memorials dedicated to educating visitors about human rights violations and genocide can often become spaces that are emotionally triggering. Museum staff are tasked to design exhibits and programs that present these difficult histories while also helping visitors navigate the difficult feelings they may experience. And yet, the teams who work within these spaces on a daily basis can also become traumatized.

In this conversation, Dr. Ershnee Naidu-Silverman, Senior Program Director of the Global Transitional Justice Initiative at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, discusses historical trauma and the strategies museum workers use to create spaces of healing for themselves, as well as their visitors.

Register here.

This event is co-sponsored by the Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center, Queensborough Community College’s Gallery and Museum Studies Program, and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center.