BOOK

Fostering Empathy Through Museums (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016)

“The essays in Fostering Empathy Through Museums can help museums explore how to amplify their role in fostering empathy through tolerance, and through such tolerance, a more just and equitable world.”

Elizabeth Merritt, Vice President of Strategic Foresight and Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums (AAM)

From the Publisher

Fostering Empathy Through Museums features fifteen case studies with clear take-away ideas, and lessons learned by vividly illustrating a spectrum of approaches in the way museums are currently employing empathy, a critical skill that is relevant to personal, institutional, economical, and societal progress.

The need is rapidly growing for empathy to serve as a lens through which we find our purpose and connection in a complex world. This demand brings with it an appetite to cultivate it through safe and trusted platforms. Museums are uniquely equipped to undertake this important mission. This book will help museum staff and leadership at all levels working at a variety of museums (from animal sanctuaries to art museums, from historic house museums to children’s and science museums) to better understand the multitude of ways how empathy can be cultivated, and employed in museum setting.

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Reviews & Mentions

TrendsWatch 2017 by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM)’s Center for The Future of Museums lists Fostering Empathy Through Museums as a reference book (November 2017).
Museums & Society reviews Fostering Empathy Through Museums. By Amy K. Levin, Northern Illinois University (July 2017) – “Relying more on psychological concepts than on museum theory, the authors of the articles in this collection address both controversial exhibitions that can be upsetting to the public as well as the importance of museums and similar institutions in teaching empathy. (…) More importantly, the individual chapters in this book provide case studies from a range of institutions, mostly in the US but also elsewhere. These include large and small sites—historical museums, science centres, children’s institutions, and even a wildlife sanctuary. (…) The diversity reflected in the book’s chapters is heightened by the inclusion of texts on Islam, Asian art, and disability.”
New England Archivists Newsletter reviews Fostering Empathy Through Museums. By Barbara Austen (Volume 44.2, April 2017) — “The book, which would be applicable for museum curators or archivists working in a museum setting, is composed of fifteen essays describing how a variety of institutions promote empathy in their exhibitions and programming. . . . Many chapters are in the show-and-tell, ‘this is how we did it,’ mode–from interactive science exhibits to art therapists encouraging artistic creativity and discussion in highly structured programs–while others are more philosophical and explore the psychology of empathy, elucidating the differences between perspective taking, empathy, and sympathy. I found something useful in nearly every chapter.”
Pacific Standard mentions Fostering Empathy Through Museums, and two of its contributed chapters, in an article “Seeking My Sister in an Afghan War Memorial” by Catherine Woodiwiss (October 7, 2016) — “September 11 brought to light the importance and necessity of the social value of museums…. By 2002, there was a profound sense of urgency to deliver good works at times of need, Donna Gaffney, a member of the affiliated faculty at the International Trauma Studies Program at New York University, and Emlyn Koster, director of North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, write in Fostering Empathy Through Museums, a book of 15 case studies on the subject that was released in July.”
Star Tribune mentions Fostering Empathy Through Museums in an article “Museum Experiment Aims to Measure Whether Looking at Art Boosts Empathy” by Jenna Ross (January 13, 2018) — “Museums harbor these amazing collections — authentic objects that come with so much character and information and stories,” said Elif Gokcigdem, a Washington, D.C.-based Islamic art historian and author of the 2016 book “Fostering Empathy Through Museums.” People who encounter them connect to those pieces “not just intellectually but also emotionally, through our minds and hearts. If we can get people to do that within the museum, then maybe we can also get people to do that in their everyday lives.”
Museum Management & Curatorship reviews Fostering Empathy Through Museums. By Gary Campbell and Laurajane Smith (May 15, 2017) — “This collection, which draws on so many engaging and innovative projects, will be an inspiration for anyone interested in how emotions, particularly empathy, work.”

Contributing Authors

Foreword
Emlyn Koster

Prologue & Introduction
Elif Gokcigdem

Chapter 1
Teaching Emotion and Creativity Skills Through Arts
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Nadine Maliakkal, and Botin Foundation

Chapter 2
Nurturing Empathy Between Adults and Children: Lessons from the Children’s Museum
Susan Harris MacKay

Chapter 3
Wearing Someone Else’s Shoes: The Cooperative Museum Experiences of Science of Sharing
Hugh McDonald, Elizabeth Fleming, Joshua Gutwill, and Troy Livingston

Chapter 4
Social Fiction and Catalyst of Change: Enhancement of Empathy Through Dialogue Exhibitions
Orna Cohen and Andreas Heinecke

Chapter 5
Response Art: Using Creative Activity to Deepen Exhibit Engagement
Jordan Potash

Chapter 6
From Indifference to Activation: How Wonder Fosters Empathy In and Beyond Informal Science Centers
Mary Beth Ausman, Michele Miller Houck, and Robert Corbin

Chapter 7
The Psychology of Empathy: Compelling Possibilities for Museums
Adam Nilsen and Miriam Bader

Chapter 8
Finding Inspiration Inside: Engaging Empathy to Empower Anyone
Dina Bailey

Chapter 9
Interpreting Arapaho Chief Niwot: Complex Pasts in Contemporary Community
Seth Frankel

Chapter 10
Designing a Story-Based Exhibition: A Case Study from the Freer and Sackler Galleries
Thomas Wide

Chapter 11
Invoking Biography in Museum Presentations of Islamic Art: Successes and Challenges
Amy Landau

Chapter 12
Adopting Empathy: Why Empathy Should Be A Required Core Value for All Museums – Period
Jon Carfagno and Adam Rozan

Chapter 13
A Decade of Community Engagement Through the Lens of Empathy
Emily Zimmern, Janeen Bryant, Kamille Bostick, and Tom Hanchett

Chapter 14
Learning From The Challenges of Our Time: The Families of September 11 and Liberty Science Center”
Donna Gaffney and Emlyn Koster

Chapter 15
Walk With Me: The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Laura Anderson

“

This collection, which draws on so many engaging and innovative projects, will be an inspiration for anyone interested in how emotions, particularly empathy, work.

Museum Management and CuratorshipGary Campbell and Laurajane Smith
“

Museums harbor these amazing collections — authentic objects that come with so much character and information and stories,” said Elif Gokcigdem, a Washington, D.C.-based Islamic art historian and author of the 2016 book "Fostering Empathy Through Museums." People who encounter them connect to those pieces “not just intellectually but also emotionally, through our minds and hearts. If we can get people to do that within the museum, then maybe we can also get people to do that in their everyday lives.

"Minneapolis Institute of Art experiment aims to measure whether looking at art boosts empathy"Jenna Ross, Star Tribune
“

Many chapters are in the show-and-tell, ‘this is how we did it,’ mode–from interactive science exhibits to art therapists encouraging artistic creativity and discussion in highly structured programs–while others are more philosophical and explore the psychology of empathy, elucidating the differences between perspective taking, empathy, and sympathy. I found something useful in nearly every chapter.

New England Archivists NewsletterBarbara Austen
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