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Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM

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76<br />

heterogeneous groups <strong>of</strong> people (the<br />

society <strong>of</strong> this country, bourgeois<br />

society). More precisely, the term<br />

community, regularly used in Anglo-<br />

American countries, does not have<br />

a true equivalent in French since it<br />

represents “A collection <strong>of</strong> constituents<br />

or stakeholders 1) audiences,<br />

2) scholars, 3) other public interpreters,<br />

e.g. Press, interpretative<br />

artists, 4) program providers – arts<br />

groups, etc, 5) repositories, including<br />

libraries, preservation agencies,<br />

museums” (American Association <strong>of</strong><br />

Museums, 2002). The term is translated<br />

in French either by collectivité or<br />

population locale or communauté (in<br />

a restricted sense), or also by milieu<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essionel.<br />

3. Two types <strong>of</strong> museums– social<br />

museums and community museums –<br />

have been developed in recent decades<br />

in order to emphasise the specifi c<br />

connection that these museums wish<br />

to build with their public. These<br />

museums, traditionally ethnographic<br />

museums, present themselves<br />

as establishments which have strong<br />

ties with their public, who is at the<br />

centre <strong>of</strong> their work. Although the<br />

nature <strong>of</strong> their respective objectives<br />

is similar, their management style<br />

differs, as does their relation with<br />

the public. The term social museums<br />

includes “museums which share the<br />

same objective: to study the evolution<br />

<strong>of</strong> humanity in its social and<br />

historical components, and to transmit<br />

the staging posts, the points <strong>of</strong><br />

reference, for understanding the<br />

diversity <strong>of</strong> cultures and societies”<br />

(Vaillant, 1993). These objectives<br />

establish the museum as a truly interdisciplinary<br />

space and can produce<br />

exhibitions addressing subjects as<br />

varied as the BSE crisis, immigration,<br />

ecology etc. The operation <strong>of</strong><br />

community museums, which can<br />

be part <strong>of</strong> the movement <strong>of</strong> social<br />

museums, is more directly related<br />

to the social, cultural, pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

or geographical group which they<br />

represent and which is meant to sustain<br />

them. Although <strong>of</strong>ten pr<strong>of</strong>essionally<br />

managed, they may also rely on<br />

local initiative alone and the spirit <strong>of</strong><br />

giving. The issues they address touch<br />

directly on the functioning and identity<br />

<strong>of</strong> this community; this is particularly<br />

the case for neighbourhood<br />

museums and ecomuseums.<br />

DERIVATIVES: SOCIAL MUSEUMS, SOCIETY<br />

MUSEUMS.<br />

CORRELATED: COMMUNITY, COMMUNITY<br />

DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNITY MUSEUM, DEVELOPMENT<br />

PROGRAMME, ECOMUSEUM, IDENTITY, LOCAL,<br />

NEIGHBOURHOOD MUSEUM, PUBLIC.

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