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COMMUNISM IN MUSEUMS SPACES OR HOW THE MEMORY CANNON IS FORMED
Abstract
Historical museums are a specific reservoir of ways of representing past events, and a key element in the processes of rationalization and institutionalization of history. Museums legitimize and interpret the past for the visitors, while their wide impact and authority make them jointly responsible for the shape of collective memory. Each museum is part of historical policy pursued in order to shape the historical consciousness and collective memory of a community. Although museums try to appear (ethically and politically) neutral they are greatly interested in power: a power to name/give meanings, power to represent and create official versions that become generally accepted even commonsense views, a power to represent the social world and the past. Not only they do not want to share power with the museum audiences but, on the contrary, they want to retain control over them. For the museum, control means representing the society and its supreme values. This is also a power to define an individuals position within this society. The objective of my paper is to critically deconstruct master narratives about communism based on museum narratives in Poland 25 years after the collapse of the system.
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