Human rights museums and pedagogies of practice the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos Jennifer Carter

In recent years, a number of museums have incorporated the term ‘human rights’ into their titles. This approach provides a certain indication of the subject matter these institutions take up in their mandate and mission and, when paired with other telling attributes – the museum of holocaust and human rights, or the museum of memory and human rights – suggests the particular frame through which narratives will be represented. Given that many museums before these have also clearly invested in the work of human rights, this article proposes a reading of this museological phenomenon in light of recent universal discourses on human rights, notably those by the United Nations and Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. Through a case study analysis of the Museo de la Memoria y Los Derechos Humanos in Santiago, Chile, this article examines the significance of this new generation of museums in light of a broader global shift in accountability toward human rights violations. If the human rights museum is to be considered an instrument or technology of communication, in what ways are these museums pedagogical exercises in human rights work, and to what ends?