ABSTRACT
Origins stories are often embedded in deep time when historical distancing takes place with a supposed accompanying perspective and detachment (Phillips 2013: 2). It therefore appears somewhat counterintuitive to argue that displays on the origins of nations in museums are deeply emotional constructs (Keaton and Brodie 2011: 192) in which nations are understood not with dispassionate thinking in the head but are felt with the heart. Indeed, as Phillips points out, this form of distancing is something academics understand to be akin to a form of maturity, a ‘stage of consciousness far removed from the simplicity of earlier ages’ (ibid.), when people were assumed to have romanticised the past. This chapter analyses the ways in which, despite appearances, histories of nations in museums, particularly those relating to origins, are designed to encourage emotional responses, and how the nation itself is constructed through the media of the museum to appeal to emotions.
