Unapologetically Political and Sociological: Developing and Renewing Museum Spaces

In the context of Malta’s Valletta 2018 commitment to maximise, popularise and ‘Europeanise’ its cultural spaces, this paper examines the role of national museum spaces in the contemporary era of cultural hybridity, liquidity (Bauman, 2000) and mobility. Departing from a critical pedagogical framework, the paper examines how ‘national’ cultural sites which have historically served to reproduce hegemonic ‘imagined communities’ (Anderson 1991), can be genuinely transformed into ‘ecologies of cognition’ (de Sousa Santos 2006). These are dynamic public spaces where cognitive justice and democracy are affirmed. The role of curators as mediators of knowledges and as adult educators within mainly state-sponsored institutions will be interrogated. Also problematised is the notion of ‘national’ and ‘permanent collection’ in a Maltese context which is dynamic and cosmopolitan. In the final analysis, this paper will contribute to the ongoing search for greater participation of the Maltese publics in the formulation of national imaginations through active engagement in museum experiences.