museums, politics and power in Ukraine

Once-Ukraine-based museum consultant Linda B. Norris (@lindabnorris), who is part of the ICOM conference/project on Museums, Politics and Power (#museumspolitics)), has been discussing the role of museums in democratic revolutions.

Maidan Museum: a revolution in history, a revolution in thought

Maidan Self-Defence, the National Centre of Folk Culture Ivan Honchar Museum, the “Tustan” State Historical-Cultural Park and the Cultural Policies Agency NGO have established the Maidan Museum [Музей Майдану], in order ‘to preserve artefacts that show the significant social changes in Ukraine in 2013-2014 [збереження артефактів, які стали свідченням відчутних суспільних зрушень в Україні 2013-2014]’, ‘to preserve the memory of the events that changed Ukraine and to elucidate[?] the values ​​that motivate people who seek change [увічнити пам’ять про події, що змінили Україну і вияскравити цінності мотивації людей, що прагнуть змін]’.

Occupy Gezi background, part two: protesters and politics

This is my second background piece on Occupy Gezi. In the first, I reviewed the protests and the repression; here, I explore the protesters and their politics; in the third, I summarise the archaeology of Gezi Park. In the “proper” posts that follow, I examine the economics and politics of archaeology in Turkey; I look at the roles of both archaeology and archaeologists in the Turkish revolution.