Museum, Exhibition and Memory: an analysis of the long-term exhibition of the Historical and Artistic Museum of Maranhão
historical museum; museum exhibition; social memory; social museology; cultural policies.
Historical museums created in a colonial perspective have been invited in the face of a latent social demand to rethink their social functions. Organizations such as the International Council of Museums - ICOM and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -UNESCO coordinated events in countries on the American continent with the aim of creating paths for museums. This research presents as its central theme the study of the museum, exhibition and memory with the general objective: to analyze the long-term exhibition at the Museu Histórico e Artístico do Maranhão - MHAM and how it has sought to work with cultural, identity, social and cultural issues. collective memories. In this context, cultural policies for museums are essential to outline actions that encourage dialogue, which enable the construction of new knowledge, based on the relationship between the museum and society. It is through the museum exhibitions that there is dialogue with the collective and the museological object considered as a document is the element that generates reflections and dialogues. The research has a qualitative and exploratory approach, with an analysis of normative documents, such as cultural policies at the national, state (Maranhão) and municipal (São Luís) levels, as well as the MHAM Museological Plan. Data will be collected through direct observation and the application of a questionnaire with open questions to MHAM professionals. The technique used to interpret the answers to the questionnaires will be Content Analysis and its steps such as pre-analysis, exploration of the material and treatment of the results obtained and interpretation. The product to be developed is a booklet on Heritage Education, with the aim of presenting proposals for activities that promote debates and reflections between the long-term exhibition and society. In partial considerations, it appears that the MHAM is a place of memory, created in a colonial perspective, however it needs to be a space for the celebration of plurality.