Cadernos de Sociomuseologia nº 37 (2010) : To understand New Museology in the 21st Century
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Item Transformative museology(Lusofona University, 2010) Weldon, Rebecca; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e Administração“…we have to take into account the fact that museology and museums are two completely different things.” Martin R. Shärer[1] In the 20th century, growing populations produced a growing body of heritage. The transmission of this heritage to succeeding generations coalesced into three major modern institutions: universities, library/archives and museums. Traditional systems of social and cultural memory had become overloaded and therefore evolved conceptually. This evolution took place within the primary context of a naturally occurring museology through the process I call museogenesis. The term museogenesis refers to the origin and development of museological thought in a specific cultural context. By museological thought, I refer to ideas and theories surrounding the parameters of “the natural and cultural heritage, the activities concerned with the preservation and communication of this heritage, the institutional frame-work, and society as a whole” (Mensch 1992). This broadly inclusive definition relates museology to another broadly defined concept: cultural context. By cultural context, I refer to the “webs of significance and systems of meaning which is the collective property of a group” (Geertz 1973). [1] ICOFOM Study Series – ISS 34, 2003, ISS 34_03.pdf, p.7Item Who am I? An identity crisis Identity in the new museologies and the role of the museum professional(Lusofona University, 2010) Giménez-Cassina, Eduardo; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e AdministraçãoWhilst the title of this essay suggests more than one “new museology”, it was rather a licence poétique to emphasize the two major theoretical movements that have evolved in the second half of the 20th Century[1]. As a result of the place(s)/contexts where they originated, and for clarity purposes, they have been labelled in this essay as the “Latin new museology” and the “Anglo-Saxon new museology”; however they both identify themselves by just the name of “New Museology”. Even though they both shared similar ideas on participation and inclusion, the language barriers were probably the cause for many ideas not to be fully shared by both groups. The “Latin New museology” was the outcome of a specific context that started in the 1960s (de Varine 1996); being a product of the “Second Museum Revolution”(1970s)[2], it provided new perceptions of heritage, such as “common heritage”. In 1972 ICOM organized the Santiago Round Table, which advocated for museums to engage with the communities they serve, assigning them a role of “problem solvers” within the community (Primo 1999:66). These ideas lead to the concept of the Integral Museum. The Quebec Declaration in 1984 declared that a museum’s aim should be community development and not only “the preservation of past civilisations’ material artefacts”, followed by the Oaxtepec Declaration that claimed for the relationship between territory-heritage-community to be indissoluble (Primo 1999: 69). Finally, in 1992, the Caracas Declaration argued for the museum to “take the responsibility as a social manager reflecting the community’s interests”(Primo 1999: 71). [1] There have been at least three different applications of the term ( Peter van Mensch cited in Mason: 23) [2] According to Santos Primo, this Second Museum Revolution was the result of the Santiago Round Table in Chile, 1972, and furthered by the 1st New Museology International Workshop (Quebec, 1984), Oaxtepec Meeting (Mexico, 1984) and the Caracas Meeting (Venezuela, 1992) (Santos Primo : 63-64)Item The new professional: underdog or expert? New Museology in the 21th century(Lusofona University, 2010) Heijnen, Wilke; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e AdministraçãoFor a long time, museum’s form and function were impregnated with social exclusion, only accessible for a prosperous and educated minority. It held the monopoly on the past and therefore in a way on the present and the future. However times have changed and different perspectives on museum practices have been taken. In 1989 the British Peter Vergo mentioned as quoted below, a number of possible museologies, including a ‘new’, and therefore presumably an ‘old’ type of museology: “At the simplest level I would define it, as a state of widespread dissatisfaction with the ‘old’ museology, both within and outside the museum profession; and though the reader may object that such a definition is not merely negative, but circular, I would retort that what is wrong with the ‘old’ museology is that it is too much about museum methods, and too little about purposes of museums; that museology has in the past only frequently been seen, if it has been seen at all, as a theoretical and humanistic discipline.” (Vergo, 1989)Item Museu da Abolição, “The Museum That We Want”(Lusofona University, 2010) Nobre, Adolfo Samyn; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e AdministraçãoMuseu da Abolição [Abolition Museum] was inaugurated in 1983 in the city of Recife, one of the largest cities of north-eastern Brazil, located in the state of Pernambuco. This state has a special place in the history of the country: it dates back to the colonization efforts, to the first interactions between Europeans and native peoples and the exploration of sugar cane production. Today, the region embodies not only Brazilian cultural wealth and diversity, but also the great social challenges of contemporary Brazil. The name of the museum is a reference to the Abolition of black slavery in Brazil at the end of the 19th century. A museum addressing abolition means more than addressing a historic fact. It means dealing with ideas on slavery, freedom, resistance, injustice. There are no museums isolated from society, whatever their social function. For a museum such as this one, which was created with the responsibility for a theme that echoes so strongly in the lives of men and women, the challenge of finding its place in the world has always been present.Item Societal development and the traditional museum: Applying New Museology to a different context(Lusofona University, 2010) Vlies, Marjolein van der; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e AdministraçãoThe Dapperstreet[1] ...Anything is a lot, when you expect so little Life keeps its wonders hidden To suddenly reveal them in a divine state. I thought about all t Soaking wet, one drizzly morning, Simply happy in the Dapperstreet. The Dapperstreet is part of a neighbourhood often referred to as “East”, situated in the eastern part of Amsterdam. It is a lively and vibrant multi-cultural part of the city. It has a daily market with food from around the world, but is also known worldwide because of the murder on Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film director who was killed there in 2001 because of his critical and provocative statements on the Islam. Thus it can be concluded that it is certainly a neighbourhood with its own problems but, as can be read in Bloem’s poem, a place to call home and long for. [1] Poem by J.C. Bloem, The Dapperstreet (Het Verlangen, 1921). Translation by Davida de Hond.Item Men change, and museums change(Lusofona University, 2010) Oliveira, Maria Fernanda Pinheiro de; Mello, Ciema Silva de; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e AdministraçãoThis text was written for the 3rd Meeting of the Seminar on Social Museology, which took place at the Museu do Homem do Nordeste [Museum of the North-eastern Man], in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, in May 2010. It is important to explain that the Seminar on Social Museology is a monthly cycle of theoretical debates organized with the aim of gathering the necessary contributions to put together a new museological model which can indeed be compatible with the practice and its end activity – to institutionally represent the culture of the north-eastern region – and also with the practice of the role of social agent henceforth given Museums by New Museology in Brazil. To these objectives one can add that of legitimizing the museum before its peers and the museological community understood here as partners of its end activity, which is that of representing the North-eastern Man, a task that can only be feasible if socialized.Item Lost in the supermarket – The Traditional Museums Challenges(Lusofona University, 2010) Lamas, Mariana; Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Educação e Administração“I’m all lost in the supermarket. I can no longer shop happily. I came in here for the special offer. A guaranteed personality”. The song by The Clash, released in 1979, “Lost in the Supermarket” describes the protagonist struggle to deal with an increasingly commercialized society and the depersonalization of the world around him. The song speaks about alienation and the feelings of disillusionment and lack of identity that come through modern society. There are different ways which one can decrease those feelings and promote knowledge, self-awareness and understanding. The museum, when used with all its potential, is one of the ways. But how to do that? That is the question museum professionals ask themselves. This paper analyses how the traditional museum can use the new museology concepts, and the challenges of this approach, to become a vehicle for community development and empowerment, diminishing the feelings sang by The Clash.