Museums, Nations, Identities

"This book examines the relationship between museums, nations and identities with specific references to the national museums of Wales. It begins by analysing the definition of a 'national museum' and includes an overview of recent debates about national museums worldwide, drawing upon many international examples." "It explores how the national museum movement in Wales contributed to the project of nation-building; how the ensuing branches and departments within the museums set about representing the nation in its multiple guises; and the extent to which those national representations can be said to have been shaped by the museum's own specific disciplinary discourses." "The two key questions addressed in the book are: what makes a national museum national, and the extent to which those institutions established in relation to an earlier nationalist agenda can be reimagined in the context of a more civic post-nationalism. From a museological perspective, the book demonstrates how practical issues such as funding, marketing and staffing arrangements are as important in shaping museum representations as are wider academic discourses about national identity."--BOOK JACKET.