Museums of culture, culture of museums - Reflections on Ethnographic Museum Work

Changes in the museum landscape in Europe seem to have created two categories of losers: multipurpose museums and museums heir to anthropological notions of culture where collection and display tradition are oriented to showing "culture as a whole". The trigger has been the more general denationalization of culture, so museums (esp. the less prestigious) previously strongly dependent upon public money and public purpose find themselves at a considerable disadvantage on the open market. The problems are also connected to a "crisis of representation", inasmuch as the depiction of culture itself has been put into question. This essay casts light on culture, representation, collection strategies, and the conceptualization of material culture, seeing them as problematic areas that require definition and analysis. It concludes with suggestions of which conditions need to be met for an ethnological museum concept in keeping with the times - which the author regards as only possible if culture and society are seen reflexively, cross-sectionally, exploratorily and with a due regard for memory cultures.