Designing for Empathy - (American Alliance of Museums) by Elif M Gokcigdem (Paperback)

About the Book

Designing for Empathy is a volume of twenty-five essays contributed by multidisciplinary and museum thought leaders, collectively exploring the state of empathy for its design elements that might lead to positive behavior change and paradigm shift towards compassionate worldviews and actions.

Book Synopsis

Designing for Empathy is a volume of twenty-five essays contributed by multidisciplinary and museum thought leaders, collectively exploring the state of empathy for its design elements that might lead to positive behavior change and paradigm shift towards compassionate worldviews and actions.

Review Quotes

Designing for Empathy: Perspectives on theMuseum Experienceis a timely and intriguing collection of essays that argues for museums to dedicate themselves to the creation of experiences which promote empathy and affective concern as a way to both strengthen society and heal our broken social fabric. . . . There is much to be admired in Gokcigdem's latest contribution to discussions about the role of empathy in museums. Readers will find the collection's efforts to identify the core characteristics of empathy-based exhibit design to be especially. . . Some readers may also balk at Gokcigdem's suggestion that there is a single essence, a oneness, that unites the universe, and that museums can help to reveal the essential interconnectedness between humanity and the planet on which we live. But in a time of enormous social tension, political turmoil, and public unrest, perhaps such lofty aspirations are exactly what we need.

In our increasingly virtual world, museums have a unique ability to bring alive experiences, ideas, and emotions through real objects, places, and stories - and through these to identify with new people and experiences in powerful ways. Elif Gokcigdem has assembled an impressive and inspiring collection of thought pieces from a variety of perspectives, both from in and outside of the museum field, on how - and why - museums might proactively and intentionally design their experiences to foster greater empathy.

About the Author

Elif M. Gokcigdem, Ph.D., is the founder of Empathy-Building Through Museums Initiative. She is an innovative thought leader, a historian of Islamic art, and a museums scholar who is committed to creating fertile grounds of empathy through informal learning platforms to inspire positive behavior change, caring mindsets, and compassionate worldviews that value all of humanity and the planet. Gokcigdem is the author of two visionary books on empathy-building: Fostering Empathy Through Museums (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), and Designing for Empathy: Perspectives on the Museum Experience (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). She is the chief curator and co-chair of the world's first museums and empathy summit titled: "Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion Through Museums with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama," which took place in October-November, 2018 in Dharamsala, India.