”För till sist så är det så att kunskapen är viktig, om du ska göra ett bra resultat” : En professionsstudie av intendentens självbild och yrkesroll i museiinstitutionens omvandling

The role of the museum within society today is significantly different from how it used to be. The last five decades have seen an increase in focus on pedagogy, accessibility and outreaching activities within the museums, and it has had an effect on both how the museum is viewed from the public eye, as well as how the work within the organisations is carried out, by the increasing amount of different museum professionals. The aim of this thesis is to explore how the role of the curator within the museum has been affected by the changes within and around the museums and their role in the society. We want to study how the curatorial role has changed – from the curators' own perspective, to analyse a prospective curator-identity, and to discuss whether there is a need for a clarification in the designation of the role. Our main method is qualitative research – our empirical material consists of semi-structured interviews with curators responsible for managing collections, and managers with personnel responsibilities, working at two large museum institutions – Malmö Museer, a municipal and regional museum in Skåne, and Statens Museer för Världskultur, a government body, placed primarily in Stockholm. The results were analysed through the theoretical framework of profession theory – to discuss the role as a profession, according to the criteria of sociologist Thomas Brante and historian Rolf Thorstendahl. A context based on a museological perspective, with focus on new museology and its inherent innovative ideas of what museums are, place our research in the field of collection management in museums. The results of our study show that the curators still have an elevated status in the public eye, but they feel largely undervalued within the museum, and at times invisible within the organisation. They describe a large freedom to direct their own work, a lot of independence and autonomy, and reliance from both co-workers and upper management. However, they also feel that since many parts of the upper management now consists of people with little to no museum background, their work is affected by the limited knowledge of what the curators know or do, and it worries them that the general lack of historical and museal knowledge is spreading throughout the institutions. The curators and the managers are consistent and unanimous in their standpoint that the museums, even though they are politically governed, have not been transformed in their entirety due to political trends or turns, but that fluctuations in both political and public debates affects them, as they are democratic institutions with the assignment to be relevant. Our conclusion is that the changes within the sector has affected the curators considerably, and that a professional designation is a fruitful instrument to analyse the curator role with. The designation could certainly be a way to bring much needed clarity regarding both the curators' everyday work and their overall status, but also in the encounter with other professions and employees within the organisation