Friend, Christina, M.A.
Friend, Christina, M.A.
Doctoral project: Exhibiting and communicating religious plurality in Europe - European museums as places for communicating religious diversity
First supervisor: Prof Dr Nicola Brauch (University of Bochum)
Second supervisor: Prof Dr Karen Ellwanger
Doctoral project
Most museums of cultural history tend to treat the topic of "religion" in general and "religious diversity" in particular rather peripherally. At the same time, religious plurality poses a challenge for museum work because museums have to cater for an increasingly diverse public. As a result, "master narratives" of a homogeneously imagined nation are no longer convincing. European museums are trying to open up new narratives by defining the frame of reference as European rather than national.
Current political and social developments show that, despite progressive secularisation, "religion" continues to function as an important identity creator and marker in many areas of our lives - especially in Western Europe. For example, right-wing conservative voices predominantly emphasise a "secularised Christianity" as the liberal "leading European culture", which is incompatible with the allegedly "backward Islam".
Religious plurality harbours the potential for conflict if there is little to no interaction with the respective marginalised groups. If there is hardly any knowledge of the "foreign" religion, resentment can spread almost unhindered. As places of encounter and mediation, museums can inform and educate people about past and present religious diversity.
The aim of the research project is to use a qualitative comparative approach to analyse how European museums exhibit and communicate religious plurality. The House of European History in Brussels, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseille and the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin form the object of investigation.
The study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and practices of negotiating religious plurality in European museums. To this end, a combination of source studies and field research phases with alternating survey and evaluation phases is planned.
Specialist areas
- Museum and exhibition
- Cultural history & theory, culture of remembrance
- Material culture
Scientific career
- since 2021: PhD student in the research programme "Regional Regulation of Religious Plurality in Comparison" (RePliV)/research assistant at the Ruhr University Bochum (CERES)
- since 2021: Lecturer at the Institute of Material Culture, including coordination of the interdisciplinary series of lectures "Sammlungs-TEIL-habe - Partizipation an (Universitäts-)Sammlungen" (WiSe 20/21)
- 2019-2020: Research assistant at the Institute of Material Culture, deputy curator of the Textile Everyday Culture Collection, teaching in the field of cultural and museum studies
- 2019: Master's thesis"Constructions of nation in exhibitions about the First World War - A comparative analysis of the Musée de l'Armée Paris and the Museum der Bundeswehr Dresden"
- 2016-2019: Student assistant to Prof Dr Karen Ellwanger, Director of the Institute of Material Culture
- 2016-2019: Master's degree in the interdisciplinary degree programme Museum and Exhibition at the University of Oldenburg
- 2012-2016: Studied Cultural Anthropology / European Ethnology and French / Gallo-Roman Studies at the Georg-August-University Göttingen and Université Rennes 2, France
Publications
Freund, Christina: Understanding religious diversity and laïcité - civic education in the Atelier Les trois monothéismes at Mucem Marseille. In: Journal for Civic Education 25/2 (2025), 4-8.
Freund, Christina (2019): Constructions of 'Nation' in exhibitions about the First World War - A comparative analysis of the Musée de l'Armée Paris and the Museum der Bundeswehr Dresden. In: Ellwanger, Karen et al (eds.): Studies on Material Culture (Material Culture and Museum, Vol. 37).
Freund, Christina (2019): Constructs of "Nation" in First World War Exhibitions. An Analysis of the Musée de l'Armée, Paris, and the Museum der Bundeswehr, Dresden. In: ICOM Germany and Tout-Smith, Deborah (ed.): Museums, Borders and European Responsibility: One Hundred Years after the First World War, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2019 (Beiträge zur Museologie, vol. 8).
→ To the publication
Achterberg, Rahel et al (2018): Between two worlds. People with and without disabilities tell their stories. Accompanying volume to the exhibition.
Lectures
22.07.2023: "Finding your way in the labyrinth of inter- and transdisciplinary research: of aberrations and signposts for doctoral candidates", 17th DGEKW Doctoral Candidates' Conference "Promovieren im Hier und Jetzt - Über die Situiertheit von Doktorand*innen reden!", 21-22 July 2023 (Marburg)
24 November 2018: "Constructs of 'Nation' in First World War Exhibitions. An Analysis of the Musée de l'Armée, Paris, and the Museum der Bundeswehr, Dresden", Project Slam ICOM Europe/ICOM Germany Conference: Museums, Borders and European Responsibility: One Hundred Years after the First World War in Koblenz
Exhibitions
Own exhibition participations
2018
"Australian Ghostnets - Art from the Sea", Übersee-Museum Bremen
(personal assistance to the curator)
2016
"Zwischen zwei Welten - Menschen mit und ohne Behinderung erzählen"
Travelling exhibition in Jever, Varel, Wilhelmshaven and elsewhere
Supervised exhibition projects by students
2019
"How we know - interfaces between research and everyday life", The Smart House Oldenburg
as part of the Master's degree programme 'Museum and Exhibition'
Deputy project leader