“Forgettings That Want to be Remembered”

Abstract

This paper hypothesises that museums are fundamentally haunted, and hauntological, institutions, and argues that understanding the spectre is necessary to understanding the true position and potential of the museum as a cultural form. In doing so, the paper will address what precisely spectres are, and what hauntology is, before discussing how museums are haunted and hauntological through their relation to memory, anxiety, and the unheimliche. Ultimately, the key argument and conclusion of this paper is that understanding and accepting the museum’s inherently haunted status can enable us to change how museums behave in the twenty-first century, and how we understand their role in public life.

Keywords:

• hauntology
• spectre
• memory
• anxiety
• unheimliche
• museums

disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This is not to say that the Pitt Rivers has not considered its problematic history previously – simply that van Broekhaven’s appointment has provoked a new surge of reflection.