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I. INTRODUCTION In this article, I will focus on the museumization of migration in Paris and Berlin as a continuum of debates on representation, which had a focal point (but not only) in the cannon battles that took place in the United Sates of the '80s (Cusset 2003). These "battles," which are closely related to issues of migration, unleashed important debates in all fields concerning representation: the formation of academic knowledge and teaching curricula (Fassin 1993; Beverley 1999), the practice of ethnographic writing (Kaschuba 2006), debates on citizenship, migration and racial/ethnic minorities (i.e., Chicano and black movements), as well as on "national" identities. These debates reflect the battleground within the "ethnic studies" in the United States which is nowadays caught between multiculturalism, disciplinary colonialism and de-colonial studies (Grosfoguel 2007). They have reached the domain of museums and have naturally impacted the making of representations (Chakrabarty 2002). Museum landscapes worldwide have become important fields of research, as they are arenas where the crisis of the nation is discussed face to face with demands of social representation of immigrant and non-immigrant minorities as well as diasporas, and with questions arising from the fields of post-colonial and decolonial studies. In my view, the migration museum in Paris, as well as exhibits on migration in Berlin, are examples of how these issues and debates from the other side of the Atlantic have emerged and become "visible" in both European cities. They also show the potential of the debates which can be unleashed around the museum which, in the case of both countries, concerns also the creation of images of Europe and of a new politics of migration. I will present ethnographic cases in progress, which are the result of my travelling back and forth between Paris and Berlin from July 2009 to October 2010. during this period I have mainly conducted interviews with the actors involved in the museums and exhibits, aimed at finding relevant arenas of conflict. The cases presented here can be regarded as "objects" which have emerged through my interaction with the field of migration in museums and its actors. These objects are related to spaces in which established knowledge formations and social representations are contested. II. THE "ENTRANCE" TO THE CITE NATIONALE DE L'HISTOIRE DE L'IMMIGRATION My research began with the Cite nationale del'histoire de l'immigration. Inaugurated in Paris in 2007, it is the first national migration museum in Europe. The museum is actually an enormous institution in which visitors can lose themselves as if in a labyrinth. Instead of offering answers about migration issues, the museal space opens up a field for infinite questioning regarding the making of representations in contemporary societies. After two years of observation, all I can grasp at the museum are notions of the complex dynamics of the institution. This can be due to the fact that the museum has no "centre" and it is made up of fragments: it is loaded with different contents, actors and controversies, and its structure is very weak. To give an example, neither President Sarkozy nor other important representatives attended the museum on the day of its opening, on October 9, 2007. In France, all national museums are inaugurated by the prime minister and the representatives of the ministries which financially support the institution. (1) The Cite nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration has a very liminal, or marginal, existence, since it is a project to represent immigration--which is complex enough--unfortunately landing in a very difficult historical and architectural context: at the "Palais des colonies," at Porte Doree, which was specially built for the colonial exhibition in 1931. I think such a heavy history carved in such huge stone confronts visitors with a complex juxtaposition of elements. …

The Museumization of Migration in Paris and Berlin and Debates on Representation