ABSTRACT
The complexity of museums as they are understood today is evident through the multiple readings of the museum space – readings that are taken within museums and imagined by those on the outside. Those who interpret museums are also diverse: men and women, majority and minority groups, able, disabled, academics, curators, visitors, non-visitors, adults, children. The people within these groups will also differ from each other, they will have widely divergent views, and each person will have a very personal sense of self and identity. It is this myriad that constitutes the museum’s public; it is from this diversity that the museum must find its role, be relevant and seek value. The purpose of this book is to investigate the relationship between communities and museums and how museums work with communities. It is this symbiotic relationship that is at the centre of this study.
