Minority history in museums. Between ethnopolitics and museology

From the 1980s, the ethnographic museums came under increased criticism for displaying indigenous peoples as people without history. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, this critique of the exhibiting practices began to make an impact in museums, and the notion that they should exhibit oppressed and silenced groups in society, and thereby act as agents for social change, gradually gained momentum. This development also made its mark in Norway, where several museums began to exhibit the history and culture of ethnic minorities. With this turn, the political situation of the minorities became relevant. The article investigates how the museological and ethnopolitical changes in this period influenced the way museums exhibited minority history. Two exhibitions from this period are analysed: Latjo-Drom – The Romani/Travellers’ Culture and History at the Glomdal Museum and Sápmi – Becoming a Nation at Tromsø University Museum. The article discusses how the historical representations presented in these exhibitions can be understood within the contemporary museological and ethnopolitical contexts.