Dansk Vestindien på Museum : kontinuitet og brud i udstillingspraksis 1888-2013

This master’s thesis focuses on how the former Danish colony, the Danish West Indies (1671-1917) has been, and is, displayed in museum exhibitions. The aim of this thesis is to shed light on and problematize the role of museums in their communication of colonial history. The study has been conducted A) by examining how the Danish West Indies have been portrayed over time, and B) by examining continuity and change in these exhibitions. The study maps out six Danish exhibitions dating from 1888 to 2013. Four of these are past exhibitions and two are still displayed today. This results in a broad and varied material consisting of both historical records and exhibition catalogues as well as newspaper articles and home pages. The variation in the material calls for a varied methodological approach. Thus, the approach to the material comprising the past exhibitions is historical source criticism, and the approach to the current exhibitions is based on ethnological approaches. The main theoretical foundation takes its point of departure in postcolonial theory. By looking at representation, discourse and the uses of history in the exhibitions, it turns out that the portrayal of the Danish West Indies and its various actors is commonly influenced by an idealized notion of the colony and Denmark as a colonial power. Such notions dominated the earlier exhibitions, but can even be found in the some of the most recent exhibitions. (Less)