Paper short abstract:

This paper explores dilemmas migrant communities face as to how to articulate difference or remain invisible. The case-studies are of London-based Albanian, Brazilian, Lithuanian, Tamil and Farsi supplementary schools set up by migrant parents in order to transmit cultural memory to their children.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is part of a visual ethnography about migrant community schools producing representations in museums, and what remains ignored, unnoticed, and left intentionally hidden.

As renters of community halls and mainstream school buildings, supplementary school communities are careful not to leave a mark. They remain mostly invisible, producing temporary displays and performances which are often unseen by the public. The sense of temporality and uncertainty as weekend school-renters is amplified by experiences of migration. The museum provides a rare platform for these schools to create public representations.

The research follows the dilemmas of each different community group as it seeks to work with the museum in order to gain more visibility, raise the community's profile and display their cultural heritage to a wider audience in a public setting, whilst working through the status of being migrants, and the benefits, pressures and necessities of keeping a low profile in uncertain social, political and financial climates.