Cultural Space and Race: The National Civil Rights Museum and MuseumAfrica

Abstract

Through an examination of two museums: The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and MuseumAfrica in Johannesburg, South Africa, this article explores how museums as public space can display and reveal the intersection of race and culture in the recovery of a society's historical and cultural memory. The communicative role of the museum as public space is revealed as significant in fostering the development of public memory. The article is a descriptive essay, articulating the ways these two museums as public spaces provide sites for multiple interpretations of collective memory and illustrates alternate interpretations through the eyes of two authors of different races. cultural space race public memory collective memory museums