In this age of globalisation, when human identities are becoming increasingly complex as a result of multiple interconnections, cultures are obviously becoming increasingly plural in their expression of identity. While no culture has ever been monolithic, they are even less so today.

Taken in this dynamic context – which implies, moreover, a diversified understanding of the heritage and the museum; in addition to the semantic and consubstantial variety of the concept of the museum – these three notions (museum, heritage and identity) have relationships between them which have an impact on the construction of cultural identities and which, therefore, merit attention in this world shaped by globalisation which, if it is not new, has a particular resonance in its modern and contemporary forms.

From this point of view, the museum – previously considered to be the temple of the muses in the tradition of Greek antiquity – became a social institution with the French Revolution, which gave it an existence as a place where objects could be grouped together in collections and judged worthy of being kept and preserved, with all the implications that this last term has for museums. The purpose of conserving objects is to bear witness to the creative capacities of past generations and, consequently, to the nature of their culture at a given time. These objects, preserved in their existence as traces of a culture in the making, are then seen as assets from past generations that have been passed on to present generations, in other words, heritage assets, some of which are practices, knowledge or rituals, to give just a few examples. Consequently, the museum object, which is a heritage object, bears witness to the existence of the people of the past and contributes to the uninterrupted construction of human culture.

The aim of this issue will be to analyse the different relationships between these three concepts, obviously taking into account the different eras and positions that need to be discussed. For example, while it is necessary to consider heritage in its institutionalised form, there will be no question of neglecting, or even ignoring, de facto heritage, i.e. that understood as being the property of fathers or mothers, to echo ‘matrimony’ (Hélène Hertz, in Jacques Hainard and Ali, 2002). In order to give an otherwise non-exclusive orientation, the issue will be divided into three parts: Museum and heritage; Museum and identity; Heritage and identity.

Calendar

• March 10, 2024: deadline for submission of article proposals (abstract 500 words)

• April 20, 2024 receiving the articles.

• May 31, 2024: receiving the revised version of the articles.

• June 15, 2024: publication of the issue.

Guest editors

Roger Somé, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Strasbourg

Article submission

Please refer to the Guidelines for Authors and send your contributions to Roger Somé (some@unistra.fr) and to archipelies@univ-antilles.fr.