Paper short abstract:

Based on literature research and case studies this paper asks how the process of memory shaping functions and changes within the cultural institution of a museum.

Paper long abstract:

Cultural institutions such as museums are "the products of the society that supports them" (Janes 2005: 1) and indicators of social and cultural change (Kaeppler 1996). In preserving memory, museums also shape a nation's collective memory, identity, and culture, and influence the thinking of individuals deeply: "For better or worse, individuals […] have no other way to make the big decisions except within the scope of institutions they build" (Douglas 1987: 128). Investigating museums and how their institutional thinking changes provides us with a valuable perspective on the social and cultural changes of a nation.

This paper examines The National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa as a case study of a bicultural institution in a post-colonial country. It will analyse how the representation of memory, identity and culture has changed in the first ten years and what this says about the New Zealand nation. How are "big decisions" made about what is displayed in permanent exhibitions? And how are the decisions around what should be remembered or forgotten negotiated? An understanding of these processes can provide us with clues about the wider institutional intentions and memory shaping within the museum. This leads to the bigger questions surrounding the politics of exhibitions, strategic forgetting and ownership in the museum.