Som en vacker tavla : reenactment på den museala arenan

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to see how re-enactment groups in Sweden are integrated in the museum context, environment and activities and what purposes the re-enactment associations and museums have with the performances at the museum. The study also focuses on the relationships between museum and re-enactors and the re-enactors experiences with museums. From the 1990’s, Swedish politicians have encouraged museums to co-operate with independent, amateur and non-profit organizations. At the same time, the influence from tourism industry and post-modernism has created a museum where the visitor experiences are important. Re-enactment is an increasingly popular way of re-creating the past and is used for numerous purposes. Some authors argue that today re-enactment is the most popular way of portraying the past. With the increasing demands for museums to be financially self-sufficient, independent re-enactment groups who can provide detailed and authentic performances can be seen as ideal candidates for co-operation. Three re-enactors and two museum staff members have been interviewed, using a semi-structured interview method. Both museums, Kulturen and Malmö Museer, have hosted re-enactments in the past. A third museum, Glimmingehus, is included, though its staff members have not been interviewed. The study is focused on the re-enactors experiences due to the fact that whereas there is much literature focusing on the museums, re-enactors are rarely interviewed regarding their experiences with co-operation with museums. The theoretical framework is Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and field studies, where the museum is the field and re-enactors are actors on said field. The results of this study indicates a lack of communication and understanding between museum and re-enactors, that there are major differences regarding the use and knowledge about re-enactment between various museums and different valuation of cultural capital.