MERAM Project – Madeira’s Emigration Museum
Author(s): Elisa Freitas, Maria Martins
Coordination: Elisa Freitas, Maria Martins
Host Institution: CIERL-UMa
Partner Institutions: to be defined
DATES: 2016 – ?
Research Team: Elisa Freitas, Maria Martins, others to be confirmed
Abstract: MERAM’s project – Madeira’s Emigration Museum – focuses on Madeirans’ emigration and on the social, cultural, economical and political aspects of that movement, which took place from the sixteenth century and still continues nowadays. That connection, between residents and those who decided to go abroad, for multiple reasons, still shapes the cultural identity of Madeira. The project’s proposal is to preserve, study and follow the paths of those emigrants, but also share, dialogue, discuss, and honour those life choices, creating a museum dedicated to the Madeirans’ emigration. To implement this project, a continue line of research is necessary. Hence, it proposes to achieve the following goals:
1) To acknowledge the complete literature about Madeiran’s emigration, but also on museum’s practices;
2) Analyse the work and the practices of reference institutions, nation and worldwide, connected to migrations (such as Migration Museums);
3) Collect and register data related to Madeira’s emigration movement;
4) Develop a website associated to a previously structured database, allowing the collection, registration, and presentation of information related to the project;
5) Execute comparative studies between the emigration fluxes of Madeira’s Archipelago, Macaronesian spaces and Portugal’s mainland regions;
6) Discover and explore personal routes and narratives, biographies, testimonies, memories, and stories from emigrants and their families;
7) Research historical, sociological and ethnographical aspects of Madeira’s emigration, by the material and incorporeal data;
8) Reflect the effect of the social, cultural, economical and political aspects of the emigration on the Madeira’s identity;
9) Develop an actual museum project adapted to Madeira’s social, cultural, and economical reality, by considering the audience, research, and preservation strategies about the future museum.