Closing a Museum: A Cultural Analysis on the Dismantling Process of the Museum of Movements in Malmö

Sammanfattning: An attempt was made to create a museum that focuses on the issues of democracy, migration and human rights by the Swedish authorities in 2015. As a result of the feasibility study of such an institution, the Museum of Movements (MoM) began to operate in its temporary location in Malmö. In September 2020, it was decided that the museum would no longer be financed by the Swedish government and the dismantling process started. This thesis aims to understand the role of the MoM in relation to affect and emotion. In doing so, it investigates and analyses the practices and the meaning derived from them among the museum staff and the communities to figure out the social consequences of the museum's dismantlement. Drawing on the studies of cultural heritage and the concepts of the museum, affect and emotion, and employing a cultural analytical approach, the analysis is based on the data collected by using ethnographic methods such as participant observations, individual interviews, autoethnography and official documents. Therefore, it concludes that the closure of the museum changed the meaning of the museum for the people involved and caused a loss of trust in the authorities. The civil society was disappointed and their dream was not fulfilled. This study could help to establish the lessons learned from the MoM so that they can be applied in other similar contexts.