Kulturparken Småland is situated in the south of Sweden and includes several heritage museums and
archives. Among them are The House of Emigrants and The Swedish Emigrant Institute. For 60 years
they have been hosted exhibitions and archives mainly depicting Swedish Emigration to Northern
America, 1850-1930.
In recent years activities have widened towards broader migration issues. The project Migration
Stories in the Past and Present examines new practices for collaborating with civil society on
experiences of migration. A main focus as a museum has been to find new ways to show complex
experiences and to gather and show examples of contemporary experiences of migration.
The project is financed through Swedish Arts Council, Region Kronoberg and Växjö Municipality. It
was launged in 2023 and ends in August 2025. A final seminar will take place at The House of
Emigrants on May 6 2025.
Invited guest speakers are Malin Thor Tureby, Professor of History at the Department of Society,
Culture & Identity at Malmö University, Olga Zabalueva, Senior Lecturer in Museology at Umeå
University and Martin Englund, Doctoral student in History at Södertörn University.
The topics discussed will be:
Migrants’ life stories as digital cultural heritage – challenges and opportunities
The digitization of cultural heritage is a core issue in both Swedish and European cultural policy.
Collecting, preserving and digitizing stories from groups such as migrants is often described as
important for democracy. Everyone should have the same opportunities to be included, participate
in and contribute to cultural heritage. There is a perception that digitization equals democratization,
that digitization creates accessibility so that “everyone” can participate in and decide on, contribute
to, and use cultural heritage in different ways. Based on two collections MIGTalks and
RefugeeSweden at the Nordic Museum, this presentation discusses how and under what conditions a
digital cultural heritage about and with immigrants was initiated, created and preserved in the mid-
2010s.
We, the Displaced
Around 3,000 Polish Jews came to Sweden as refugees between 1967 and 1972 due to an anti-
Semitic campaign initiated by the regime in Poland. In the collection We, the Displaced, the Nordic
Museum, has collected the life stories of these Polish Jews around 50 years after their arrival. The
collection work ran from 2021 to 2025. A fundamental conclusion in the work is that relationship
building and dialogue have been absolutely crucial in carrying out the collection.
Migration stories in museums: the museological perspective
About the planning for The Movements Museum (Rörelsernas museum) in Malmö Sweden, a
national democracy and migration museum. The planning process ran betwenn 2016 and 2020 but
was then ended. This talk brings together museology and cultural memory studies to discuss how
cultural heritage institutions can address these issues.
Contact and questions: Alexandra Stiernspetz Nylén, Head of the Dept för Cultural Heritage and
Research, Kulturparken Småland
alexandra.nylen@kulturparkensmaland.se
