Twelfth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Museums play a key role in shaping civic identities across generations. They act as ‘authentic’, ‘authoritative’, ‘consensual’ or ‘accepted’ narration of a society’s historic trajectory and identity for its own people as well as for the outsiders. In the aftermath of war in Sri Lanka, museums have become important sites of cultural identity and engagement. This research draws from a baseline study on museums in Sri Lanka conducted from April 2017 – August 2017, covering an analysis of twenty-five museums. It gives an overview of the status quo of museums in Sri Lanka in terms of interpretation, pedagogy etc. as well as a case study illustrating the nuances of identity politics. It contextualizes the trajectory and evolution of museums in Sri Lanka over the last century and analyse issues of musealisation in promoting inclusive heritage. The case study scrutinizes how an archaeological museum represents different communities and their histories in the context of contested histories.