NOT A MUSEUM, BUT A COMMUNITY OF RELATIONSHIPS: A CANADIAN ECOMUSEUM CASE STUDY

NOT A MUSEUM, BUT A COMMUNITY OF RELATIONSHIPS: A CANADIAN ECOMUSEUM CASE STUDY

Inspired by Indigenous notions of relationality, accountability and holism, this papernspired by Indigenous notions of relationality, accountability and holism, this paper examines an ecomuseum case study, l’Écomusée du patrimoine funéraire et commémoratif, to better understand its activist community forming claims. In particular, this paper seeks to describe and analyze how this ecomuseums' relationships with the environment and community take form (i.e., projects, practices, objects, values, etc.), and discuss what this model of museum implies for its community, and as a possible model for other organizations to adopt. Implications regarding its holistic structure, values, and mission, and aims for public participation will be juxtaposed with the classic iteration of public museums. Although previous studies have studied aspects of ecomuseums regarding their history, their connection to policy change, this article’s aim is to examine and compare this ecomuseum, with emphasis on the intimate relationship and communal claims regarding how it views, builds, organizes and understands its relationships with its public and larger ecosystem.