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ISSN 2084–1418
The paper edition of the Anthropology of History Yearbook is the definitive version

2016, No. (9), Cultural Heritage

Hubert Czachowski
On entanglement: the relation between museums and cultural heritage

PDF version
Keywords: cultural heritage, museum, museology, identity, subjectivity/objectivity

Abstract:
The text discusses the mutual relations that occur between cultural heritage and a museum. The thing that seems obvious hides many problems and much controversy underneath. A lot depends on the assumed definitions of both terms which are constantly being reconstructed. In particular, the adoption of a new perspective on heritage delivers new aspects to the analysis of this relationship. The importance of heritage to contemporary man is especially emphasised, it is perceived and defined and in principle constantly redefined from scratch by new generations. The questions that occur asks whether the museum collections are in fact the objective and complete representation of a particular heritage or are they just a fragment of a past reality depending on many factors including the subjectivity of the custodians and curators who create them and the financial resources of the museum institutions. A similar question can be asked about the message of museum activities conveyed through exhibitions and educational activities. It is also important to be aware that the stored collections and their presentation depend on ideologies connected to the dominant culture. The next aspect is the use by various local or ethnical groups of the heritage gathered in this way as an important element which allows to determine their contemporary identity over again. Finally, there is a problem presented – which may seem paradoxical – whether in some cases the museum collectorship makes the cultural heritage poorer by taking elements from the contemporarily functioning culture and locking them away in the museum display areas and storerooms. Keywords: cultural heritage, museum, museology, identity, subjectivity/objectivity

About Author:
HUBERT CZACHOWSKI - ethnologist, Director of the Maria Znamierowska-Prüfferowa Ethnographic Museum in Toruń. E-mail: h.czachowski[at]etnomuzeum.pl.

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