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Paper short abstract

This paper examines museums as sites of activism amid rising neo-nationalism, focusing on a co-curated exhibition in Lithuania that challenges homogenised ethnographic narratives. Through participatory practice, it explores how museums can counter polarisation and heritage appropriation.

Paper long abstract

Contemporary museums are increasingly framed not as neutral repositories of the past but as spaces of activism, where social inequalities, contested histories, and political tensions can be made visible and debated. Critical museology has shown that museum representations actively shape belonging and exclusion. This paper examines how museums can operate as sites of resistance to polarisation by reworking dominant heritage narratives through participatory practices.

Lithuanian ethnographic museums, historically modelled on nineteenth-century taxonomies and open-air folk traditions, also emerged from long colonial domination and forced Russification, when “Lithuanianess” and vernacular or “Indigenous” culture became central forms of resistance during the late Soviet period national revival movement. This produced a self-romanticising, homogenising heritage narrative that again exoticised rural life while positioning it as the core of national identity. This framework remains influential in cultural and academic discourse, however, excludes cultural minorities from national narrative.

In this context, the paper discusses a planning of co-curated exhibition at the Lithuanian National Museum that reimagines ethnographic heritage as a shared, living, and relational field. Through collaborative workshops with minorities and migrant communities, the exhibition sets the focus on co-existence rather than nostalgic imaginaries. Such museum activism, hopefully, counters polarisation by reducing heritage’s vulnerability to populist capture, fostering social resilience, and opening public space for difficult conversations on belonging and shared futures. The exhibition is urgent amid cultural struggles following the inclusion of a far-right nationalist party in government and its appropriation of ethnoculture for political ends.