Heritage and Immigration : Ellis Island Immigration Museum, Museu da Imigração and National Museum of the History of Immigration : the role of the museum as mediator in the construction of identity (1980-2020)

En tant qu’institutions mémorielles, les musées jouent un grand rôle dans la construction identitaire. Les représentations du passé et du patrimoine culturel local sont essentielles pour le développement de l’identité nationale ou régionale. Désormais, la transformation d’anciennes installations qui accueillaient les immigrés – comme Ellis Island à New York – dans des sites mémoriels mettent en scène leurs histoires. Grâce à cette patrimonialisation des mémoires d’immigrés, un nouveau discours sur l’immigration et l’identité se met en place : les mémoires souvent oubliées – un oubli volontaire parfois – trouvent leur place dans les musées et permettent de créer une narrative sur l’immigration à partir de récits personnels. Pourtant, la mise en musée de l’histoire de l’immigration reste un défi dans le pay- sage muséal international. Ainsi, plusieurs questions se posent: Qu’est-ce que le patrimoine de l’immigration? Comment exposer l’immigration? Les tentatives de représentation des immigrés reflètent-elles un paradigme national?Public sites increasingly harbor the memories of migrants in their diversity and specificity, making audible and visible versions of the past that had been occluded or simply neglected. Museums increasingly believe that you empower immigrants by remembering and redeeming their memories, which have often been absent from national narratives. Henceforth, the transformation of old facilities that used to receive and accommodate immigrants – such as Ellis Island in New York – into sites that revive their histories. This shows a transformation in attitudes towards immigration, which has changed the status of “diaspora” and has given visibility to a range of cultural identities. Changing migrants’ relationship with their identity: from overseen and transitory memories to recognition and empowerment. The integration of migration history continues to be a challenge within museum spaces and narratives even though it is an increasingly notable feature of the inter- national museum landscape. Thus, it raises a lot of questions such as: What is an immigration heritage? How to exhibit immigration? Do attempts at representing migrants mirror a national paradigm