Paper short abstract:

This paper outlines the repertoire of populist practices aimed at Polish historical museums. It presents the research results from the study of museum professionals’ strategies for dealing with the populist turn in the Polish cultural sector with a special focus on historical museums.

Paper long abstract:

This paper outlines the research results from the study of museum professionals’ strategies for dealing with the populist turn in the Polish cultural sector with a special focus on historical museums. The populist turn that is reflected in Polish cultural institutions (Kurz 2019), including museums, is undoubtedly an important phenomenon of contemporary culture. It is both due to the growing popularity of museums and the evolution of the “Polish museum boom” (Kobielska 2019), and their prominent role in the process of shaping knowledge (Hooper-Greenhill 2007). However, the impact of populism on museums is still underresearched and there is no literature indicating strategies for dealing with populism in the Polish museum world. Populist practices in the cultural sector usually evade analysis by political science, but they have a strong influence on how museums function, and how they directly or indirectly affect museum employees. Populist practices are not only conducted or used by politicians. Populism permeates socio-cultural life in various ways; thus, the study of populism extends beyond the framework of political studies. In this paper, I present the results of a cultural anthropology and museum ethnography study conducted in the years 2020-2023 in Polish museums. Initiating the discussion on the functionality of counterstrategies for populism will not only fill the gap but also have an impact on further development in the field of critical museology and studies on heritage/memory cultures.