Experimenting with museography: the Musée des Confluences in Lyon

Abstract

This article examines innovative forms of museography and their relationship to national narratives involving history, memory and locality. It seeks to assess how definitions of culture have shifted towards world culture and to what extent it can be argued that a radical approach to the anthropology museum or musées de société (also known as world culture museums) has emerged. The discussion is centred on recent exhibitions and iconic objects displayed by the Musée des Confluences in Lyon and the cultural imagination they seek to promote with both local and international visitors. New avenues in creating cosmopolitan civic forms of memories disconnected from colonial legacies will be examined.