An Empathy-Building Toolkit for Museums

Elif M. Gokcigdem (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

360 Seiten

2026
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
9798216387862 (ISBN)

Titel nicht im Sortiment

Artikel merken

This multi-disciplinary volume offers a variety of examples and guidance on how to design, develop, and implement successful experiences, learning programs, frameworks, and approaches to empathy-building
in museums and other informal learning platforms.

Museums as informal learning platforms that reflect the subjects, themes, and contexts representing all aspects of life, have a unique advantage and a responsibility to contribute to empathy-building in our world by offering opportunities for experiential learning of empathy as a portal to a deep understanding of our interconnected and interdependent existence. Within this context, empathy is defined as a form of perception, enabling us to connect with ourselves and others through a cultivation of self-knowledge. This is key to take sustainable actions towards major global challenges our world is facing, such as fragmentation, othering, as well as social and environmental injustices.

An Empathy-Building Toolkit for Museums will offer a rich variety of practical and multidisciplinary solutions to empathy-building with potential for adaptation, implementation, and scaling through a variety of museums, and other informal learning platforms, that aspire to become incubators of empathy in their respective sectors, institutions, systems, and communities. Whether museum visitors are engaging with art, religious objects, or animals, cultural heritage professionals can use the strategies outlined in this book to foster empathy and reflection, making museums a more transformative and enlightening experience.

Elif M. Gökçigdem, PhD is a pioneer in positioning museums as empathy-building incubators. She designs encounters that nurture meaning-making and unlock human potential to experience an ever-widening sense of relatedness and belonging. After coining the term empathy-building through museums in 2006, Elif created the Designing for Empathy® Framework, Summit, and Workshops, published three books and set up ONEempathynetwork.com.

An Empathy-Building Toolkit for Museums
Edited by Elif M. Gökçigdem
Dedication
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Preface
Elif M. Gökçigdem
Introduction
Elif M. Gökçigdem

Part I
Holding Space for Experiential Learning of Relatedness and Kinship
Through Contemplative Practices
1 What is Empathy-Building Through Museums?
Elif M. Gökçigdem
2 Empathy-Building with Rumi’s MAP: Meaning, Awareness, Potential
Elif M. Gökçigdem
3Empathy Through Contemplative Practices: Transcending Self and Other
Bengu¨ Ergu¨ner-Tekinalp
4Building Empathy Through Art-Inspired Meditation
Aparna Sadananda & Donna Jonte
5Designing for Emotions: The Mandala Lab at The Rubin Museum
Jamie Lawyer
6The Eyes of the Heart: Nurturing Deep Empathic Connection Through Beauty
Mary Hall Surface
7Agents of Empathy: Objects, Health and Healing in Exhibitions and The Everyday
Brenda Cowan

8Empathy for All Animals
Jim Wharton & Sarah Brenkert

Part II
Promoting Understanding Through Perspective-Taking and Thinking Strategies
9The World and Our Lenses: Addressing Wicked Problems Through Imaginative Empathy
Lidewij Niezink & Katherine Train
10Mirroring Art: A Workshop for Building New Understandings Through Engagement with Art
Zorana Ivcevic Pringle; Rebekah Rodriguez-Boerwinkle & Pablo P. L. Tinio
11Exploring Perspectives and Fostering Empathy in Conversations About Art: Three Learning Experience Models
Julie A. Carmean & Elizabeth H. Diament
12Seeing Differently: Fostering Connections and Perspective-Taking Through Slow-Looking
Claire Bown
13Religious Objects as Portals to Connecting and Seeing Humanity
Amy Glenn & Leah Smith

Part III
Creating Space for Perspective-Expanding Social Encounters
14The Only Way to Learn is Through Encounter!
Hakan Elbir
15Empathy Circles: Learning and Practicing Mutual Empathy in Small Groups
Edwin Rutsch & Rosa Zubizarreta-Ada
16Hey, We Need to Talk!:Designing Social Sculptures to Encourage Relational Dialogues That Increase Civic Engagement and Social Repair
Philippa Pham Hughes
17Museum Sage: Personalizing the Museum, One Artwork at a Time
Laurie Phillips

Part IV
Practicing and Sharing Empathic Organizational Policies and Methodologies
18Radical Curiosity and Courageous Empathy: Cultivating Compassion in Tumultuous Times
Susie Wilkening
19Building an Organizational Culture of Care
Micah Parzen
20Centering Care While Measuring Impact
Monique Davis
21Considering Apprenticeship: An Ancient Model for Relating, Learning, and Transformation
Andrew Nemr
22A Workplace Emotion Strategy: Mindsets, Tools, and Practices to Manage Emotional Energy at Workplace
Kürsat Özenç

Part V
Positioning Empathy-Building as a Shared Value in Multi-Sector Partnerships
23Beyond the Frame: Centering Museums in Healthcare Spaces
Lisa Abia-Smith & Elizabeth Lahti
24Empathy in the Healing Professions: Curiosity, Communication, Caring
Ray Williams
25How Play and Making Can Be a Bridge to Practicing Empathy for Kids
Anne Fullenkamp

About the Editor
About the Contributors

Erscheint lt. Verlag	16.4.2026
Reihe/Serie	American Alliance of Museums
Zusatzinfo	54 bw illustrations, 2 tables
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Hilfswissenschaften
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie
ISBN-13	9798216387862 / 9798216387862
Zustand	Neuware