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WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Inclusive practices in ethnographic museums: experience of Russia

presenters

    Elena Nosenko-Stein

    Nationality: Russia

    Residence: Moscow

    Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

    Presence:Online

    Aleksandr I. Bugrovskii

    Presence:Online

Inclusive practices are becoming increasingly prevalent in social and cultural spheres across numerous states. We research inclusive practices in ethnographic and historical museums in Russia which became rather popular in megapolises although the experience of inclusion in museums is still in its infancy. Focusing on inclusion in museums, we consider it through the prism of anthropology of disability, meaning practices aimed at disabled people (access to cultural heritage, increasing their social statuses, their involving in social activities, preventing their isolation and segregation, building new forms of identity (Vaz et. al., 2020). The aim of this presentation is the anthropological analysis of inclusive practices for people with physical and sensory impairments, as well as various handicaps (stigmatization of disability, economic difficulties, authoritarian traditions, war actions)preventing actors with disabilities from inclusive practices (Schorch, 2013). The authors draw on their field materials and apply qualitative methods: participant observation, in-depth interviews with museums staff and disabled visitors. We consider inclusive museums as an element of a social and cultural space and demonstrates specifics of interactions of groups with various impairments with museum space (Hooper-Greenhill 2006), including their accessibility to exhibits, shops, cafes, toilets, etc., as well as new technologies, that permit disabled people to master a museum space. We conclude, that only several Russian museums create a multifunctional space, where disabled people can socially and culturally interact with different actors, social environment. . Literature: Hooper-Greenhill, E. “Studying Visitors,” In: A Companion to Museum Studies / Ed. by S. Macdonald. Malden, Mass.; Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2006. Schorch, P. “The experience of a museum space,” Museum Management and Curatorship. 2013. 28 (2). P. 193-208. Vaz, R., Freitas, D., Coelho, A. “Blind and Visually Impaired Visitors' Experiences in Museums: Increasing Accessibility through Assistive Technologies,” International Journal of the Inclusive Museum. 2020. 13(2). P. 57-80.

Keywords:

inclusive museums, disability, Russia