Criticality and contention : museums, contemporary societies, civic roles and responsiblities in the 21st century

Museums globally exist in an academic, cultural and social context of contest and controversy. A long established practice of exhibiting the facts, truth, national history or unproblematic conceptions of other places and peoples is no longer wholly sustainable in an environment where the self evidence of all these things is under question. Topics of global importance that challenge, upset, intrigue and attract are now legitimate areas for museological investigation, and for public display through exhibitions and other programs.