ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the potentials and challenges of new participatory approaches in museums and heritage as they relate to Islam and Muslims in Europe. To do so, it draws on notions of framing and examines a number of significant participatory initiatives. These are Urban Islam (opened 2003) at the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; TAMAM (launched 2016) at the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin; Multaka (launched 2015) at the Museum of Islamic Art, the Bode Museum, the Museum for the Ancient Near-East, and the German Historical Museum, all Berlin; and the project KUNSTASYL, which included the exhibition daHEIM: Glances into Fugitive Lives (opened 2016) at the Museum of European Cultures, Berlin. The chapter examines various forms of framing – especially what it calls ‘focal framing’, ‘organisational framing’, and ‘participatory framing’ – including ‘top down’ framing, framing introduced by participants, and inadvertent or collateral framing. As the chapter shows, participatory initiatives face certain challenges, the acknowledgement of which can help in the development of future practice. Nevertheless, they are an important impetus for bringing new voices into the debate and thus contributing to reframing Islam in museums and heritage in Europe.
