Can we make a difference? Museums, society and development in North and South

April 2009 -

Ten upcoming Young museum professionals from around the World gathered in May 2008 in the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam to discuss the 'crisis of the ethnographic museum'. What is the relevance of these former colonial museums in today's society? Can they make a difference? The ten papers in this collection aim to show that they still do.

In every part of the World institutions and individuals are trying to fing innovative ways to make heritage of the past relevant for the present. From culture banks in Africa to museum cooperatives in Asia and collection libraries in Europe – the different case-studies show that the ethnographic museum has a future. In North and South, as long as we do not cling to the term 'ethnographic' or the term 'museum'.

Bulletin 387 Tropenmuseum
Can we make a difference? Museums, society and development in North and South
Paul Voogt (ed)
(KIT Publishers, € 25,-)