Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses

The monumental museums that this thesis is concerned with are the ones with an acknowledged role in representing the nation, meaning that they take an important part in creating and mobilising specific national identity discourses. They are also institutions that in the 21st century face pressures t...

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Main Author: Abadia, Lilia Rolim
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56315/
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author Abadia, Lilia Rolim
author_facet Abadia, Lilia Rolim
author_sort Abadia, Lilia Rolim
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The monumental museums that this thesis is concerned with are the ones with an acknowledged role in representing the nation, meaning that they take an important part in creating and mobilising specific national identity discourses. They are also institutions that in the 21st century face pressures to account for demands of social justice. This thesis argues that there are diverse forms of monumentality which are consequences of the struggles for representation and participation in the social arena, here understood as hegemony and counter-hegemony. In order to conceptualise the monumental Lusophone museum, this thesis proposes a case studies approach dwelling on three specific museums – the National Historical Museum (Rio de Janeiro), the Afro Brazil Museum (São Paulo) and the National Ethnology Museum (Lisbon). Based on a constructivist perspective on identity: firstly, I present the ways in which these museums are monumental; secondly, I examine how they employ ideas of Africa and nation in their long-term exhibitions. The aim of such an investigation is twofold: to document the current exhibition practices in the Lusophone world, while reflecting on the consequences of their discursive production. By doing so, this thesis is not only contributing to the fields of museum and cultural studies - accounting for a geographical area generally neglected in the international literature in the fields, but also engaging in a productive dialogue that aims to contribute to the museums’ own summative evaluation of their exhibitions.
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spelling nottingham-563152025-02-28T14:26:57Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56315/ Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses Abadia, Lilia Rolim The monumental museums that this thesis is concerned with are the ones with an acknowledged role in representing the nation, meaning that they take an important part in creating and mobilising specific national identity discourses. They are also institutions that in the 21st century face pressures to account for demands of social justice. This thesis argues that there are diverse forms of monumentality which are consequences of the struggles for representation and participation in the social arena, here understood as hegemony and counter-hegemony. In order to conceptualise the monumental Lusophone museum, this thesis proposes a case studies approach dwelling on three specific museums – the National Historical Museum (Rio de Janeiro), the Afro Brazil Museum (São Paulo) and the National Ethnology Museum (Lisbon). Based on a constructivist perspective on identity: firstly, I present the ways in which these museums are monumental; secondly, I examine how they employ ideas of Africa and nation in their long-term exhibitions. The aim of such an investigation is twofold: to document the current exhibition practices in the Lusophone world, while reflecting on the consequences of their discursive production. By doing so, this thesis is not only contributing to the fields of museum and cultural studies - accounting for a geographical area generally neglected in the international literature in the fields, but also engaging in a productive dialogue that aims to contribute to the museums’ own summative evaluation of their exhibitions. 2019-07-22 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56315/1/Lilia%20Abadia%204212653%20Thesis_final%202019.pdf Abadia, Lilia Rolim (2019) Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Museum Studies Lusotropicalism National Identities
spellingShingle Museum Studies
Lusotropicalism
National Identities
Abadia, Lilia Rolim
Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses
title Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses
title_full Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses
title_fullStr Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses
title_full_unstemmed Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses
title_short Lusophone Monumental Museum: intersecting ‘Africa’ and ‘Nation’ in identity discourses
title_sort lusophone monumental museum: intersecting ‘africa’ and ‘nation’ in identity discourses
topic Museum Studies
Lusotropicalism
National Identities
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56315/