Myth, Rhetoric and Human Tragedy in Lithuanian Museums and Sites of Memory

Wight, Craig

Abstract

Mit se može smatrati prihvaćenom manifestacijom,,istine" koja je legitimizirana u popularnoj kulturi kroz filmove, knjige, televiziju, turizam te posjete muzejima i memorijalnim središtima.,,Mit" je u tom kontekstu korpus znanja koje konstruira specifični predmet kroz diskurs dok istovremeno ograničava druge načine na koji bi se taj predmet mogao konstituirati (Hall, 1997). Ovaj rad istražuje retoričke prikaze,,mita" u ljudskoj tragediji 20. stoljeća u litvanskim etnocentričnim muzejima i memorijalnim središtima kroz foucaultovsku perspektivu. Rad propituje teorijske postavke Foucaultove Arheologije Znanja koja predstavlja filozofsku perspektivu kojom se sagledavaju pripovjedne strukture znanja o ljudskoj tragediji na spomenutim mjestima. U radu se identificira diskurzivna formacija te se artikuliraju dva šira organizirajuća diskursa koja legitimiziraju,,litvansko nacionalno iskustvo žrtve" i problematičan, neautorizirani diskurs židovske,,etničke tragedije". Moglo bi se reći da ovi,,iskazi" prikazuju,,korpus znanja" u litvanskim muzejima, koristeći ograničenja kroz pravila ili,,iskaze".

A myth can be considered an accepted manifestation of 'truth' that is legitimated in popular culture through for example films, books, television, tourism and visitor encounters with museums and sites of memory. A 'myth' in this context is therefore a body of knowledge which constructs, through discourse, a specific object whilst placing limits on other ways in which that object might be constituted (Hall, 1997). This paper explores the rhetorical representation or 'myth' of 20th century human tragedy in Lithuanian ethnocentric museums and sites of memory using a Foucauldian perspective. The paper reflects over Foucault's Archaeology of Knowledge as a philosophical lens through which to view narrative structures of knowledge about human tragedy in these sites. A discursive formation is identified and two broad organising discourses are articulated as an authorised 'Lithuanian national victimhood' and a problematic, unauthorised discourse of Jewish 'ethnic tragedy'. These 'statements' can be considered to represent a 'body of knowledge' in Lithuanian museums, bound by a set of rules or 'statements'.

Citation

Wight, C. (2013). Myth, Rhetoric and Human Tragedy in Lithuanian Museums and Sites of Memory. Acta Turistica, 25(2), 191-209

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2013-12
• Deposit Date: Nov 9, 2022
• Journal: Acta Turistica
• Print ISSN: 0353-4316
• Electronic ISSN: 1848-6061
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 191-209
• Keywords: Foucault, discursive formation, discourse analysis, museums and sites of memory, holocaust representation
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2951795
• Publisher URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23730006