The Status and Treatment of Ethnographic Collections: the Example of Poljice

Na primjeru Poljica u Dalmaciji autor analizira stanje i tretman etnografskih zbirki, pri tome problematizirajući pitanja i muzeologijske teorije i prakse. Kao komparativni materijal upotrijebljeni su historijski izvori, recentna istraživanja više znanstvenih disciplina i vlastita terenska istraživanja.The region of Poljice in central Dalmatia has permanently drawn the attention of scientists from various disciplines, with different viewpoints and methodologies. Yet, for vague reasons systematic ethnographic research has been lacking - with the single exception of the voluminous monograph by Frano Ivanišević from the turn of the century. During last two decades, the inhabitants of Poljice have shown a revived interest in their cultural traditions, resulting in the creation of several ethnographic collections and a museum in Gata, in the central part of Poljice. Although of modest size and inadequate, if judged by the criteria of modern museological theory and practice, these collections are a valuable example of people's care for their own cultural heritage. Althought it is not certain that such efforts will give impetus for future scientific research, they are nevertheless very stimulative and worthy of attention