ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the extent to which postcolonial theory has influenced representations of ethnicity within national museums of so-called settler and non-settler nations; how the national museums of such countries compare and contrast, and the implications of the distinctions for minority indigenous groups. Ethnicity is redefining itself as a concept and in the process challenges notions of postcolonialism and the workings of postcolonial national museums. The common and some may argue inevitable, move of postcolonial countries with ethno-majority populations like Ireland to rehabilitate the image of their ethnicity after colonialism can then set challenges for their future inclusiveness. The modern-day National Museum of Ireland emerged under colonial rule as the Dublin Museum of Science and Arts in 1877. If Te Papa's approach to ethnicity is taken to be representative of exhibitionary strategies in postcolonial settler nations, then the National Museum of Ireland finds its echoes in similar postcolonial non-settler nations, for instance, at the National Museum of India.
