Statsløs i diaspora: kulturarvdokumentasjon og virtuelt museum

The museum as a social arena accentuates cultural encounters between individuals in unequal situations that are played out in public. Meetings between cultures are in themselves not a new phenomenon, but increased globalisation and immigration impel us as researchers of culture to repeatedly question our notions of ethnicity, cultural heritage and diaspora. This article is based on the Norwegian-Kurdish Heritage Documentation project, which has been supported by the Norsk Kulturråd (Arts Council Norway) for two periods. The project consists of two phases. Phase I was designed to document and collect tangible and intangible cultural elements among the Kurds in the diaspora. In Phase II, which is based on the first phase, the collected materials are sorted, categorised and analysed with the intent to publish a Kurdish virtual (online) museum. The virtual communication form adapts to the conditions that life in the diaspora requires for communication and preservation of culture. In this article, the terms ”stateless” and ”diaspora” are used. The question is whether a virtual museum can be a useful tool for cultural heritage dissemination for a stateless people in a diaspora context who are otherwise unable to communicate their culture through physical institutions.