ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned mainly with three key mental constructs that are intrinsically linked to emotions; constructs that enable museums to invent a form of national origins that appear truthful to their visitors. The first is the notion of the academic discipline of history (and to some extent archaeology) that endows museums with a veneer of veracity. The second is the form and function of narrative that shape origins stories in particular ways that are emotionally satisfying to those who visit. The third is the notion of myth and how it weaves its magic on nations and their peoples, and is used by museums to support their national stories. Intersecting with these concepts is the idea of time, place and survival. These apparently fixed constructs are emotionally imagined ideas and ideals that are marshalled to help forge national historical consciousness in visitors. The chapter develops further ideas about nationalism and the role of the museum explored originally in Chapter 2 and fleshes out some of the theoretical concepts on emotion discussed in Chapter 3. It concludes with examples of the ways in which national traits and customs (including religious affiliation), understood to be foundational to the character of the peoples who live on the land now nationalised, are traced by museums over time to link those in the past with the present inhabitants of the nation.
