Susanne Boersma is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the Arts in Society. She has worked as a museum curator in Berlin and the UK and always finds ways to combine research and museum practice. At Leiden University, she is part of the Museum Lab.

More information about Susanne Boersma

Before joining Leiden University in October 2024, Susanne worked as a museum curator at Museum Europäischer Kulturen, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz) in Berlin. She completed her PhD in Anthropological Studies in Culture and History at this museum and the Universität Hamburg in 2022. After completing her PhD, she worked as a curator at a museum of everyday culture, where she was able to integrate her findings in her approach to a care-ful participatory practice for the provenance research exhibition 'Áimmuin: Re-connecting Sámi heritage'. In addition to her work on this and further exhibitions, she began researching the Hindeloopen room that is part of the museum's collection. Aiming to further investigate the role of this room in museum history in different national contexts, she is now part of the Museum Lab at Leiden University. In addition to this research, she is co-organising enquiry-based workshops that allow students to be actively involved in museum practice.

Fields of interest

Participatory practices in museums; Museums and migration; Ethics and ethical considerations in museum work; Deconstructing institutional infrastructures and the myth of the objective museum; Decolonising the past and present of museums; The narrative of Europe and 'the other'; Museum collections and repatriation; Museums as safe spaces; Collaborative research methods in Social Sciences and Humanities. 

Research

Her current research looks at historical and contemporary presentations of the Hindeloopen room (and Hindeloopen artefacts) and their connection to museum history and nationalist narratives. 

Previously, she researched participatory practices in museums and ethical considerations in curatorial practice. For her doctoral research, Susanne focused on participatory museum work with forced migrants, especially keen to find out how participatory practices impacted the lives of the participants. She addressed projects that took place in museums in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. After completing her PhD, she worked as a curator at a museum of everyday culture, where she was able to integrate her findings in her approach to a care-ful participatory practice for the provenance research exhibition 'Áimmuin: Re-connecting Sámi heritage'.

Curriculum Vitae

Since 2024
Postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, NL.

2018-2024
Curator and researcher at Museum Europäischer Kulturen, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, DE; Lecturer in different courses, amongst which ‘Museums and Migration’ at the University of Hamburg and ‘Europa ausstellen’ at the Technische Universität Berlin, DE; Guest lecturer on curating, participatory practices in museums and ethics at different universities (DE/NL).  

2018-2022
PhD Anthropological Studies in Culture and History, Hamburg Universität and Museum Europäischer Kulturen - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, DE. This PhD was part of the Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network EU H2020 project 'POEM'. 

2017-2018
Exhibitions Manager at Atelier van Lieshout, NL

2016-2017
Programme Assistant at S1 Artspace in Sheffield, UK; Curator at the School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, UK; Dutch language teacher, University of Sheffield, UK.

2015-2016 
MA Art Museums and Gallery Studies, University of Leicester, UK.

2011-2015 
BA Cultural Studies and BA Theatre Studies, University of Amsterdam, NL.

Selected publications

Atmaca, N. & Boersma, S. (2024) 'Positionalitäten und Identitäten im Museum. Plädoyer für eine reflektierte institutionelle Praxis', in WITH/OUT IDENTITY. Zur Frage von Identitätskonstruktionen in Raum, Erbe und Communities, Bauhaus Universität Weimar. [forthcoming]

Boersma, S., Kist, C., Mucha, F., Zwart, I. & Econoumou, M. (2024) 'Shifting from 'inside-out' to 'outside in' – Envisioning ways of structurally integrating participatory principles in museums. In: Koch, G., Smith, R. C. & Tran, Q. (Eds.) Future Memory Practices. Concepts, Cases, Critique. Routledge.

Boersma, S. & Tietmeyer, E. (2024) 'Ethical Practices in Participatory Memory Work. Examples from the Museum Europäischer Kulturen'. In: Koch, G., Smith, R. C. & Tran, Q. (Eds.) Future Memory Practices. Concepts, Cases, Critique. Routledge.

Boersma, S. & Sado, D. (2024) 'A Donkey for the White Visitor – Practices of Collecting (with) Forced Migrants'. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Special Issue: Collaborative Projects as an Avenue to Transgress Western Epistemologies. 

Boersma, S. (2023) The Aftermaths of Participation. Outcomes and Consequences of Participatory Work with Forced Migrants in Museums. Transcript Verlag.

Boersma, S. (2021) 'Aandacht voor 'de vluchteling' –Stereotypische representatie van vlucht in musea'. Boekman Extra.

Tietmeyer, E., Edenheiser, I. & Boersma, S. (Eds.) (2021) What’s Missing? Collecting and Exhibiting Europe. Museum Europäischer Kulturen 24, Reimer.

Boersma, S. (2020) 'Facilitators of integration? Museums and their potential role in empowering refugees'. Museological Review 24, pp. 114-122.