Museums of Communism

2020-11-03
 |  History
Museums of Communism

Author: Stephen M. Norris

Publisher: Indiana University Press

ISBN: 9780253050311

Category: History

Page: 443

View: 671

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How did communities come to terms with the collapse of communism? In order to guide the wider narrative, many former communist countries constructed museums dedicated to chronicling their experiences. Museums of Communism explores the complicated intersection of history, commemoration, and victimization made evident in these museums constructed after 1991. While contributors from a diverse range of fields explore various museums and include nearly 90 photographs, a common denominator emerges: rather than focusing on artifacts and historical documents, these museums often privilege memories and stories. In doing so, the museums shift attention from experiences of guilt or collaboration to narratives of shared victimization under communist rule. As editor Stephen M. Norris demonstrates, these museums are often problematic at best and revisionist at worst. From occupation museums in the Baltic States to memorial museums in Ukraine, former secret police prisons in Romania, and nostalgic museums of everyday life in Russia, the sites considered offer new ways of understanding the challenges of separating memory and myth.

Occupation and Communism in Eastern European Museums

2021-07-29
 |  History
Occupation and Communism in Eastern European Museums

Author: Constantin Iordachi

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781350103719

Category: History

Page: 304

View: 928

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This volume offers fresh perspectives on the representation of the recent past in museums of the Second World War and of communism in post-communist Eastern Europe. It does so against the background of recent European-wide debates on history, memory and politics. The contributors from across Europe focus comparatively on a wide variety of case studies, pointing out similarities and differences, and accounting for transnational patterns of remembrance at regional and European level. Occupation and Communism in Eastern European Museums argues that museums have a huge influence on the image of the communist past in Eastern Europe. It shows how they use a vast array of media tools, visual tactics and commercial strategies in order to substantiate ideological approaches to the past and to shape the attitude of public opinion.

Museums of Communism

2020-11-03
 |  History
Museums of Communism

Author: Stephen M. Norris

Publisher: Indiana University Press

ISBN: 9780253052346

Category: History

Page: 442

View: 965

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How did communities come to terms with the collapse of communism? In order to guide the wider narrative, many former communist countries constructed museums dedicated to chronicling their experiences. Museums of Communism explores the complicated intersection of history, commemoration, and victimization made evident in these museums constructed after 1991. While contributors from a diverse range of fields explore various museums and include nearly 90 photographs, a common denominator emerges: rather than focusing on artifacts and historical documents, these museums often privilege memories and stories. In doing so, the museums shift attention from experiences of guilt or collaboration to narratives of shared victimization under communist rule. As editor Stephen M. Norris demonstrates, these museums are often problematic at best and revisionist at worst. From occupation museums in the Baltic States to memorial museums in Ukraine, former secret police prisons in Romania, and nostalgic museums of everyday life in Russia, the sites considered offer new ways of understanding the challenges of separating memory and myth.

Five Essays on Bulgarian Museums and Communism

2015
 |  Bulgaria
Five Essays on Bulgarian Museums and Communism

Author: Gabriela Petkova-Campbell

Publisher: Editions L'Harmattan

ISBN: 9782343067858

Category: Bulgaria

Page: 156

View: 318

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The fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe marked the beginning of the so-called transition period, which was smoother for some countries and troubled for others. In all cases, however, it was a period of revision and establishment of new social, political and environmental values, challenging and difficult to accept for the generation that lived for 45 years under those regimes. A period of complete denial of 45 years of existence was followed by nostalgia and finally by the acceptance that, whether we like it or not, communism forms part of our history and part of us all and cannot be just wiped without traces. This book explores a three-way relationship : between Bulgarian museums, communism in its Bulgarian variation and Bulgarian society. It looks at how the regime influenced the development of the museum system but most importantly it looks at how communist museums influenced the audiences. The development and changes in the perception of museum visitors, their understanding and reactions are explored through their relationship with museums. The link between the past, the present and the future of both museums and society is established by examining visitors' approach towards museums and the way history was and is represented in them.

A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism

2011-02-22
 |  Fiction
A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism

Author: Slavenka Drakulic

Publisher: Penguin

ISBN: 9781101502525

Category: Fiction

Page: 208

View: 941

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A wry, cutting deconstruction of the Communist empire by one of Eastern Europe's exceptional authors. Called "a perceptive and amusing social critic, with a wonderful eye for detail" by The Washington Post, Slavenka Drakulic-a native of Croatia-has emerged as one of the most popular and respected critics of Communism to come out of the former Eastern Bloc. In A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism, she offers a eight-part exploration of Communism by way of an unusual cast of narrators, each from a different country, who reflect on the fall of Communism. Together they constitute an Orwellian send-up of absurdities during the final years of European Communism that showcase this author's tremendous talent.

Past for the Eyes

2008
 |  History
Past for the Eyes

Author: Oksana Sarkisova

Publisher:

ISBN: 963977605X

Category: History

Page: 416

View: 943

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How do post-communist museums and cinema contribute to shaping the image of a communist past in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe? This is the first systematic analysis of the use of visual techniques in grasping what the previous regime means. Museums and memorials started mushrooming all over East and Central Europe, in the former communist world, after the past was lost 1989. While reflecting on possible, actual meanings of the lost history the aim of shaping public opinion and discourse of the recent communist past also became apparent. Most of these undertakings--movies included--tried hard to make political use of recollections of the earlier world, and employed select tools from contemporary museological, memorializing and new-media practice to make their politicized intent historically credible. Thirteen essays from scholars in the region deal with the use of new media in shaping and fashioning popular perception of the previous era, and provide a fresh approach to the subject.

Museums and Monuments to the Memory of the Victims of Communist Dictatorships

2019-04-08
 | 
Museums and Monuments to the Memory of the Victims of Communist Dictatorships

Author: Anna Kaminsky

Publisher: Sandstein Verlag

ISBN: 3954983915

Category:

Page: 472

View: 632

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Since the collapse of Communist systems of tyranny, memorials of many kinds have been erected in the states of Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Africa, Asia, Australia and America; indeed, some were created while the Communist system was still in place: Memorials, museums, monuments, religious buildings and sculpture parks recall the Communist dictatorships and their victims, along with opposition and resistance to, and the final overcoming of, these unjust regimes. This volume presents a selection of 119 places of remembrance in 35 countries. In addition to an overview of the history of the crimes in question, the individual contributions cast light on the origins of the memorials and document the efforts to restore the memory of the victims of Communist tyranny to its rightful place in public awareness.

A Place in Europe

2009
 |  Social Science
A Place in Europe

Author: Gabriela Petkova-Campbell

Publisher: British Archaeological Reports Limited

ISBN: UOM:39015080732186

Category: Social Science

Page: 176

View: 613

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This book explores the origins and development of museums and heritage sites in Bulgaria (1856-2006) in relation to societal change and major historic events. It seeks to determine the key factors that promoted museum building, and pinpoint the key individuals who were involved. Original and archival sources, interviews, observations and field visits have provided a rich dataset which has been analysed to reveal how systems of power, politics and social control affected how museums were created and subsequently managed. Furthermore the Bulgarian case is situated within a broader European context and comparisons are made with the museum institutions in different countries in order to determine any specifics and particularities of Bulgarian museum building and operation. The book demonstrates how different administrations have used museums to promote their own political views of the nation's cultural identity, and in particular how the strategies employed by the Communist regime continue to influence the museum sector today. The major contribution of this book lies in its use of archival documents. This has resulted in a different account of the formation of Bulgarian museums, on some occasions contradicting accepted histories. It also introduces the little known Bulgarian museology to a wider audience, which is seen to be important at a point in time when Bulgaria has become part of the European Union.

From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum

2016-03-03
 |  Language Arts & Disciplines
From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum

Author: Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781317132042

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 272

View: 842

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Since the late nineteenth century, museums have been cited as tools of imperialism and colonialism, as strongholds of patriarchalism, masculinism, homophobia and xenophobia, and accused both of elitism and commercialism. But, could the museum absorb and benefit from its critique, turning into a critical museum, into the site of resistance rather than ritual? This book looks at the ways in which the museum could use its collections, its cultural authority, its auratic space and resources to give voice to the underprivileged, and to take an active part in contemporary and at times controversial issues. Drawing together both major museum professionals and academics, it examines the theoretical concept of the critical museum, and uses case studies of engaged art institutions from different parts of the world. It reaches beyond the usual focus on western Europe, America, and ’the World’, including voices from, as well as about, eastern European museums, which have rarely been discussed in museum studies books so far.

Museums in China

2014
 |  Art
Museums in China

Author: Marzia Varutti

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

ISBN: 9781843838883

Category: Art

Page: 206

View: 852

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An examination of museums in China, surveying their development from the nineteenth century, and looking in particular at their incredible recent proliferation.