ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

heritage as community appropriation, with the
differentiation between ' national ' and ' global '
heritage ( R. Montpetit ), and also to the elaboration
of the idea of museum and of the concept of
community ( T . C. Sheiner ) . This approach shows that
there can be no consensus in defining 'community ' or
'museum ' either. The only common point appears to be
the diversity of meanings and the wide scope of
problems which can arise in relation to the concepts
of museum and community.
Very different approaches are established in
the papers in which the authors try to support their
theoretical statements with the real practice. On
one side there is the universal question of power by
which museums can control mental territories and
play the important role in maintaining the identity
of the community as interpreted by M. Horta by some
actual examples taken from the southern region of
Brazil, while on the other side there is a close and
strict European analysis of H. Vieregg who on the
basis of W. von Humboldt's theory, analyses the
possibilities of the representation of contemporary
history in museums using the term community in the
sense of audience .
The African problem is raised very clearly, It
could be summarized in the questions: is the
European model of museum adequate for African needs
and are the existing museums in Africa able to
realize the possibility of close connection with
their communities,
Let us very
Stavanger papers
ending with the
countries.
shortly give the essentials of the
starting with the theoretical and
particular examples from various
Eurydice An tzoula tou-Retsila from Ionian
University in Greece, in her paper ' Museums and
Communities: Coping with Dilemmas. Or: Between
Huseomania and Museotherapy ' accentuates that the
awareness of the social role of museums has changed
from the 1vory tower ' mentality to the sharing
power with segments of a larger civic whole . Putting
many questions about the role of museums in the
society she states that museums have to shift from
' monologue to conversation'. She insists on a deep
professional devotion of museum people and "a clear
sense of responsibility to their communities" aiming
to understand the nature and flexibility of
individual and group identities.
Hathilde
recherche des
museums for
development of
Bellaigue from Laboratoire de
musees de France in her paper "Which
which communities?" explains the
museums in Europe and states that
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