Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Beginning from the 1980s the discussions on “New Museology” have gained importance. The change in museology led new types of museums and most of them, especially the city museums, used local heritage to promote local development. It is related to the acceleration of globalization in the late twentieth century with the globalization the nation states beginning to decline and the cities becoming more visible on the global scene. To participate in the global market, governments promote city branding in global and local competition; therefore, local values are seen as the input of this competition. Beginning from the 2000s, city museums become widespread in Turkey. Up to now, seventy city museums are established and nearly sixty ones are proceeding in different cities and towns in Turkey. The city museum in Turkey has been discussed in political rhetoric, official discourse of local administration, works of non-governmental organizations, and academic research. It reveals that the museums are the agents of city branding, actors of global and local competition, platforms of conservation of local culture and history, initiatives of developing sense of belonging and consciousness of citizenship, and collectors of urban memory. But when we read between the lines, it reveals that they are the productions of neo-liberal and neo-conservative policies of the government which embrace a new kind of nationalism. I argue that regarding the discourse of city museums in Turkey, the city museums are mediated politically. So, they are the agents of historic writing and symbols of ideology.