Museums education and cultural contestation : the case of the Malta Maritime Museum

Abstract

This paper deals with the role of museums as sites of cultural politics. The focus is exclusively on one specific museum, namely the National Maritime Museum located in the maritime city of Birgu in the south of Malta. It provides a chronicle of events leading to the establishment of the museum, a detailed account of the permanent exhibition housed within the building, background information regarding the surrounding localities and an account of views, deriving from taped interviews with key informants from the area, regarding the relationship between the museum and its surrounding communities. Whose voice/s does the museum represent and celebrate and which relevant voices are overlooked? These questions are examined within the context of power-knowledge relations. The paper concludes with a discussion concerning the museum's potential in furnishing visitors with a decolonising space for cultural contestation and renewal.