Identity on the Line
Identity on the Line

PUBLIC REPORT 2019-2023

Summary of all activities, results and achievements of I-ON

Identity on the Line hands in policy recommendations to MEPs at EU parliament

The policy roundtable in the European Parliament in Brussels was an opportunity to present the project’s findings and recommendations for policymakers: a booklet of proposals for long-term solutions to tackle issues that are too often treated with short-term urgency. They include initiatives to raise awareness of the long-term consequences of trauma and silence for individuals, families, and societies. They also address how to diminish the stereotyping of migrants and all forms of ‘othering’ in public discourse.

Identity on the Line’s policy recommendations:

  • 1. Raise awareness about the long-term consequences of war and forced migration by always applying a three-generational perspective.
  • 2. Intensify efforts to provide multidisciplinary support after collective trauma; support by cultural mediators, ethnologists, anthropologists, historians, sociologist, ideally in collaboration with psychologists and psychiatrists.
  • 3. Support and enable professionals and institutions working with cultural heritage to raise public attention towards sensitive and contested historical events and apply a multi-vocal perspective.
  • 4. Intensify initiatives on societal and political levels to diminish all forms of stereotyping of migrants.
  • 5. Initiate further research on how public interpretation and display of contested history can positively impact individual and societal physical and psychological wellbeing.

After the war in Ukraine started, the project decided to support Ukrainian film producers to make a movie about Crimean Tatars. This minority group has experienced forced migration several times during the last 70 years.

The documentary “The Crimeans” show the families of Lierane Khaibullaieva and Amet and Dilyara Bekir, who emigrated from Crimea after its annexation by Russia. They currently live in emigration in western Ukraine. Lierane Khaibullaieva has opened a new coffee shop in Lviv, while the Bekir family is engaged in children’s educational projects. They still dream of returning to Crimea and not losing themselves.

Identity on the Line received EMA Prize 2022

At the European Museum Academy (EMA) annual ceremony on the 10th of September, the large-scale cooperation project Identity on the Line (2019-2023) received the once-in-a-while EMA Prize for its outstanding contribution to understanding migration and Identity in Europe. 

The EMA Board decided to give the EMA Prize to the project because:

  • “It is admirable that a mid-sized museum as the Vest-Agder Museum has set up such a complex international project, bringing together six other small/mid-sized institutions scattered all over Europe."
  • "The impressive outcome is a joint traveling exhibition, separate exhibitions in all countries concerned, publications, webinars, school packages, and so on. It shows what mid-sized museums can achieve!"
  • "The project is an important contribution to understanding the history of migration in the 20th century, thanks to its international exposure Europe-wide”.

Bring I-ON to your community!

FIND ALL I-ON MATERIALS IN 7 EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

Joint Exhibition

Easy to print and display files of I-ON’s exhibition showing common ground between people’s experiences touched by seven former migration processes.

Movie

Movies about the seven migration processes. 1 Long (45-min) and 7 short (7-min) each.

 

 

School Packages

Easy to print and use school materials for teachers, aiming to engage young people in intercultural dialogue.

Online publication

Articles about the working processes and results of the migration processes in all seven museums.

Policy recommendations

Suggestions for policymakers to include a three-generational perspective in migration policy.

Who we are

The project is a broad cooperation between partner institutions in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia and Croatia. Starting with similar approaches and using the same methods, each museum will work on one important migration process in its country by collecting and facilitating sensitive narratives in local exhibitions and uncovering challenges which have not been addressed before. The main findings and common features will be summarized and made available as a joint travel exhibition within Europe and a digital package for education.