Historiskt återskapande på museer : en studie av samverkan mellan museer och externa ideella aktörer

Sammanfattning: This study is concerned with the collaboration between museums and amateur performers of historical reenactment and living history i Sweden. Historical reenactment were examined as a cultural phenomenon and as a potential way of bringing new volunteers and partners to the museum. Historical reenactment is part of a more traditional museology which emphasize the knowledge of museum collections and artefacts. At the same time reenactment is also part of a postmodern, popular and more affective making of history. From the late 20th century and onward the ideas of new museology has changed museum to revolve more around visitor experience, mediation of history, a revolution in virtual as well as visual and tangible communication and a dialog between museum staff and visitors. Historical reenactment could therefore be a useful tool for museums trying to give visitors a multi-sensory experience and engage in public dialog while simultaneously value traditional knowledge of material culture. As a theoretical framework this study made use of the typologies for museum membership schemes developed by Alix Slater (2004) as well as the perspective on volunteers as dedicated visitors rather than unpaid staff expressed by Kirsten Holmes (2003). .In addition, the study also draws upon of theoretical perspectives and studies by Jerome de Groot (2009) and Peter Aronsson (2004), among others their respective studies on the contemporary and popular use of history. In this study potential values concerning visitor experience, knowledge creation and volunteer participation produced in the cooperation were examined through interviews and podcast discussions with historical reenactors and museum staff. In addition, it examines the risks taken by museums, as institutions with authority vested in them by both tradition and the new swedish museum law, when giving up on the monopoly on history mediation and history making. The study concludes that, although historical reenactors can be valuable to incorporate into the museum, there are also risks with popular and amateur history lacking transparency and other ways to control facts and historical accuracy. Museums and reenactors must strive towards a mutual understanding of the each others needs and incentives. Finally it is argued that historical reenactment should be further studied with emphasis on comparing it to other user generated phenomenons such as Wikipedia.