Producing history, (re)branding the nation: the case of an exhibition on the Danish Golden Age

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines how national museums, which are key actors in nation-building and nation-branding, participate in the production and circulation of national myths for present contexts. Through a case study of a travelling exhibition on the Danish Golden Age, we analyse how the exhibition and myth of the Danish Golden Age change and transform as they are circulated in the national contexts of Denmark and Sweden, and how the changes are linked to variations and differences in nation-building and nation-branding in the two national contexts. Our theoretical framework combines nationalism studies with the concept of nation-branding, and uses an institutional perspective to explore how rule-like myths about a golden age are transformed in the face of differing national-identity and nation-branding needs.