46th annual conference of the Estonian National Museum "Culture and Power"

Culture and power have always been in closely-knit mutual interdependence. The aim of the conference is to analyse this intertwined relationship, concentrating first of all on the symbolic resources of power and the symbolic power of culture. Culture is both a prerequisite and a result of power displaying; in the relationship with power, the ambivalent character of the culture reveals itself. How does power shape culture and how does culture shape power? Is the

relationship between culture and power characterised by confrontation, obeyance or compromise? What is the hierarchy of power and how does it reveal itself in different levels of culture?

We welcome presentations, based on empirical data, belonging to the sphere of cultural research and dealing with one or several of the following questions:

- The relationship of culture and power in historical perspective: its dynamic and current status. The power of 'us' and 'them' in the development of national culture.

- Cultural resistance and cultural competition - culture as a part of social identities of various groups (differentiation, compensation, resistance etc.). Ethnic/cultural minorities, subcultures, gender roles.

- Power games in everyday culture - (symbols and texts, norms of behaviour, milieu etc.).

- The identity of cultural institutions during the different power regimes. The influence of contemporary fast change and cultural "opportunities".

- The relationship between cultural heritage and power, using historical and natural heritage, literature and art, historical memory and consciousness for establishing power.

- Museums, museum collections and museum employees - the tools in the hands of the power or as the carriers of continuity?

The languages of the conference are Estonian, English and Russian. A selection of the articles will be published in English, in 2006, in a pre-reviewed journal of ethnology, Pro Ethnologia.

For the additional information please, write Terje Anepaio (Research Director, Estonian National Museum), E-mail: anepaio@erm.ee; or Toivo Sikka (Research Secretary, Estonian National Museum), Toivo.Sikka@erm.ee ,

http://www.erm.ee Estonian National Museum