Building understanding : Irish history museums on both sides of the border
(2024) ABMM74 20241Division of ALM and Digital Cultures
- Abstract
- This work is an MA thesis in museology focused on Republican and Northern Irish state-governed museums and how they may inform the creation of a collective national Irish identity. The aim of the thesis is to establish how Irish history is told by Irish state-governed history museums, to what degree the Irish public can participate in those museums and their exhibitions, and how that may define the collective Irish national identity. This aim is realised using a comparative study between The Ulster Museum of Northern Ireland, and The National Museum of Decorative Arts & History as well as The General Post Office Museum of the Republic of Ireland. The sources are interviews, digital and physical observations of the museums’ exhibitions as... (More)
- This work is an MA thesis in museology focused on Republican and Northern Irish state-governed museums and how they may inform the creation of a collective national Irish identity. The aim of the thesis is to establish how Irish history is told by Irish state-governed history museums, to what degree the Irish public can participate in those museums and their exhibitions, and how that may define the collective Irish national identity. This aim is realised using a comparative study between The Ulster Museum of Northern Ireland, and The National Museum of Decorative Arts & History as well as The General Post Office Museum of the Republic of Ireland. The sources are interviews, digital and physical observations of the museums’ exhibitions as well as exhibition analysis, with the theoretical framework of collective memory theory, participation theory, narrative and paratext theory. The results and analysis found that the museum sector of Ireland is undergoing a change in their approaches to Irish history in the wake of The Decade of Centenaries and are moving to more cooperative modes of operation across the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. It also found that the museums are in general moving towards a more democratic and communicative approach regarding the museums’ audiences. The study also found that The Ulster Museum is ahead of the other ones studied in this democratisation process, while the museums in the Republic have been slower to change. The study concludes that the collective national identity of the Irish on both sides of the border is undergoing a shift to becoming more inclusive than it has been previously, which is reflected by the museums’ democratisation process. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9155286
- author
- Björkman, Hedvig LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Att skapa förståelse : irländska historiemuseer på varsin sida av landsgränsen
- course
- ABMM74 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Museology, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, The Troubles, the Easter Rising, collective memory, cultural trauma, Irish history, Northern Irish history
- language
- English
- id
- 9155286
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-18 14:51:58
- date last changed
- 2024-06-18 14:51:58
@misc{9155286,
abstract = {{This work is an MA thesis in museology focused on Republican and Northern Irish state-governed museums and how they may inform the creation of a collective national Irish identity. The aim of the thesis is to establish how Irish history is told by Irish state-governed history museums, to what degree the Irish public can participate in those museums and their exhibitions, and how that may define the collective Irish national identity. This aim is realised using a comparative study between The Ulster Museum of Northern Ireland, and The National Museum of Decorative Arts & History as well as The General Post Office Museum of the Republic of Ireland. The sources are interviews, digital and physical observations of the museums’ exhibitions as well as exhibition analysis, with the theoretical framework of collective memory theory, participation theory, narrative and paratext theory. The results and analysis found that the museum sector of Ireland is undergoing a change in their approaches to Irish history in the wake of The Decade of Centenaries and are moving to more cooperative modes of operation across the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. It also found that the museums are in general moving towards a more democratic and communicative approach regarding the museums’ audiences. The study also found that The Ulster Museum is ahead of the other ones studied in this democratisation process, while the museums in the Republic have been slower to change. The study concludes that the collective national identity of the Irish on both sides of the border is undergoing a shift to becoming more inclusive than it has been previously, which is reflected by the museums’ democratisation process.}},
author = {{Björkman, Hedvig}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Building understanding : Irish history museums on both sides of the border}},
year = {{2024}},
}