Museums and the problematic concept of cultural identity: from objective (of action) to object (of knowledge)

Abstract

Museums are usually seen as valuable means to attain and reinforce cultural identities. The author argues tfiat, instead of such ideological goals, the'):' should consider identity as an object of critica I analysis and historical understanding. Several problematic features are pointed out, mainly identity's nature as a socio-cultural process and its contrastive functions. Current answers of museums to identity claims are then critically analyzed (particularly the alleged preeminence of inner or ethnic knowledge over academic knowledge). In any case, critica I approach is required as the only way to deal with alterity, regardless of struggles for monopolizing truth. A final parallel is established between museum displays and the concept of "discursive text" as developed in History and Anthropology: exhibits should be taken neither as an absolute representation nor as a subjective expression, but as a contingent and contestable - and 011 the way fertile - dialectical construction.