Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett on Museums & the Politics of History

As institutions of public history, museums must navigate a minefield of divergent narratives, stakeholders, and goals. Steering a steady course, independent of political pressure, is an unrelenting challenge, especially in post-Communist Europe. Even when museums are relatively free to chart their own course, the histories they present are not without their politics. This lecture will explore how the politics of history are playing out today, in light of recent efforts to legislate what can and cannot be said about the most painful events in a country’s history.