Museums as a Means to (Re)Make Regional Identities: The Oltenia Museum (Romania) as Case Study
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In recent decades, ever more museums have begun to put a new emphasis on the education of the public, playing an important role in creating national or regional identities. This paper aims to assess the strategy chosen by the History Section of the Oltenia Museum in Craiova (Romania) to use knowledge, objects and narratives to create a sense of belonging and negotiate identities. Site visits, participant observations and discussions with museum curators, the analysis of texts and discourses were used in order to see if there is a master narrative related to regional identity and to determine the elements used to shape this identity. The results of this study point to the fact that there is an underlying master narrative of the exhibition, stressing the dominant understanding of Oltenia’s identity stemming mainly from cultural markers such as religion and language, while acknowledging wider European influences on the national and regional identity.
Source: Societies
DOI: 10.3390/soc12040110
Authors: Liliana Popescu, Claudia Albă
Institution: University of Craiova
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,466
OpenAlex ID: W4289529942