Introducing Peace Museums

Joyce Apsel is a professor in the Global/Liberal Studies Program at New York University and was a recipient of the 2009 NYU Distinguished Teaching Award. She is a board member of the International Network of Museums for Peace and President of the Institute for the Study of Genocide.

"In Introducing Peace Museums, Joyce Apsel has captured the philosophies and practice of a dynamic but little-documented heritage phenomenon that not only reclaims and preserves memory but actively promotes social change. . . . Introducing Peace Museums is a treasure for scholars, museum professionals as well as general interested readers alike. It is a unique and much-needed volume reflecting both an eye for detail and the ability to observe and understand the wider peace movement and its social and cultural significance."Clive Barrett, University of Leeds, UK, and Chair of the Peace Museum, Bradford, UK"Apsel’s book pays homage to those individuals and institutions engaged in positive peacebuilding, an ongoing process evolving over time. . . . It gives voice to those altruistic individuals and institutions who strove in the past and who live and strive today to ‘make peace.’"Siegrid Raible, PASOS Peace Museum, USA"Joyce Apsel’s Introducing Peace Museums is thus a timely and welcome presentation of a kind of museum that is still largely unknown and yet vitally important in opening up the debate about war and peace. . . . She has conceived of her study as 'A Peace Museum Sampler' which describes and analyzes four museums (two from Europe and one each from the United States and Japan) as well as two peace centers (both in Europe) which can also be regarded as museums. Many other peace museums are briefly introduced along the way. . . . Her book is all the more welcome as it is the first book-length study of its kind."Peter van den Dungen, Bradford University, UK, and General Coordinator of the International Network of Museums for Peace(Memory Studies, October 2016)"Introducing Peace Museums is precisely what this clearly written and informative book by Joyce Apsel does. . . . The book is an ambitious attempt to examine peace museums in a global context. Introducing Peace Museums will serve as a useful introduction, especially to readers unfamiliar with the concept, educators who want to incorporate peace museums into their curriculum, and curators who are interested in expanding the scope of their museums to include displays on peace. Each chapter can also function as a preliminary guidebook for readers who wish to visit the museums introduced."Akiko Takenaka, University of Kentucky, USA, and co-author of Exhibiting World War II in Japan and the US since 1995.(The Public Historian, August 2016)

• 1. Introducing Peace Museums: Peace Matters2. The Peace Museum in Bradford, UK: Fostering Peace Education and Community Cohesion While Preserving Peace Art and History3. Kyoto Museum for World Peace: Speaking Truth to Power: A University Peace Museum4. Gernika Peace Museum: Creating a Culture of Peace and Reconciliation5. Dayton International Peace Museum: A Community Model6. The Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, and Casa per la Pace, Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, ItalyIndividuals and Movements for Peace and Pacifism7.Conclusion: Peace Museums Looking Forward