Who Are We? Searching for Identities in Luxembourg

This dissertation analyses the relationships among the issues of identity, power and the museum and investigates how these factors are linked to the museum’s social and educational role. It focuses on two exhibitions that deal with the subject of identities in Luxembourg: ABC – Luxembourg for beginners... and advanced!, held at the Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg (2012-2013), and iLux. Identities in Luxembourg, shown at the Musée Dräi Eechelen (2012-2013). A comparative critique of their approaches provides a close examination of their explicit and implicit practices as well as their politics of display.
The underlying paradigm of this dissertation is qualitative rather than quantitative. It does not aim to obtain an objective and quantifiable result. Rather, it aims to assess the similarities and differences between the exhibitions through a critical analysis based on qualitative methods.
The findings suggest that identity discourse in museums is linked to globalization and multiculturalism on the one hand, and more entrenched national identities on the other. Furthermore, it is closely connected to hegemonic political discourse – one reason why museums may be exposed to the risk of political instrumentalisation. The results of this dissertation should serve as a starting point for a discussion, involving a plurality of voices, on existing practices and future developments.
Laurence Brasseur was born in Luxembourg. She studied humanities and art history before completing her master’s degree in museum studies at the University of Leicester (UK) in 2013. She is now a PhD researcher in museum studies at the same university

Collection de la Fondation Robert Krieps du meilleur mémoire de Master 2, volume 4

Éditions d’Lëtzebuerger Land/Fondation Robert Krieps, 2015, 94 pages