IAWM presented its own panel at the 56th annual conference of IALHI (International Association of Labour History Institutions) last September in Berlin (Germany). The conference theme was "The Shared Responsibility of Memory: Maintaining Relations between Heritage, Institutions and their Communities."
Our panel, "From Ownership to Responsibility: Feminist Approaches to Archiving, Care, and Digital Memory," brought together three IAWM members to explore how feminist museum practices challenge conventional models of collecting and archiving:
Gaby Franger (Museum Frauenkultur Regional International, Fürth) on narrative textiles as instruments of memory and self-empowerment
Mona Holm (Kvinnemuseet Kongsvinger / Women's Museum Norway) on SHHH! Stories about Abortion, an international project collecting sensitive personal histories
Stefania Pitscheider Soraperra (Frauenmuseum Hittisau / Austria's Women's Museum) on Processing Peace. On Equity, Democracy, Gender, using the exhibition to explore relational museum practice.
Together, the contributions proposed a shift from ownership to responsibility in heritage work, asking how museums and archives can negotiate care, participation, and accountability with the communities whose — often marginalised or sensitive — histories they collect and make visible. Project coordinator: Stefania Pitscheider Soraperra
Archives and museums shape our collective memory. © unsplash