Kazuoki Ohara: What have we learnt and should we learn from the Scandinavian Ecomuseums?

-A study on museological way to make sustainable community-, pp.43-51, Journal of Japan Ecomuseological Society, No.13, 2008.3 contact to: [email protected]

What have we learnt and should we learn from the Scandinavian Ecomuseums?
A study on museological way to make sustainable community
Kazuoki Ohara
Yokohama National University
This paper is based on the oral presentation for who were a good appraiser of ecomuseology. He mentioned about Bergslagen Ecomuseum If this were not called an ecomuseum, what else could it be called?... And our association of ecomuseum in Japan ( JECOMS; Japan Ecomuseological Society) has once decided to invite key note speakers from Ekomuseum Bergslagen in 1995 at the first annual meeting of the association.*15 After the period, some researcher introduced about the same Swedish ecomuseum as a typical one.*16

Mini-Conference on 13th Oct 2006 in Workshop 2006 at the conference hall of Brunnsviks folkhgskolan in the territory of Ekomuseum Bergslagen, Sweden within the European project Long Networks held by the European network of ecomuseums.

1. Introduction
I also have evaluated a number of the Scandinavian Ecomuseums around the world take different forms depending on the geographic area, the regional characteristics of the location, the cultural heritage of the local people, and the favorite activities of both the residents and the tourists to the area. Local topography, soil quality, weather, industry, agricultural products, food, culture, and politics, among other things, contribute to the differences. Conversely, ecomuseums in similar areas share similar characteristics. Although I assume that some of the characteristics and practices of Scandinavian ecomuseums have already been introduced to our society, and the ecomuseums in We Japanese have not known much about Scandinavian ecomuseums by reading some articles*1,14 or visiting there. For instance, we have learnt that the Ekomuseum Bergslagen must be a good model for participation of local people through the article*2 written by K. Hudson 43 Japan have, indeed, learnt and incorporated these best practices, I will, nonetheless, try to confirm once again what Japanese ecomuseums should learn from their counterparts in Scandinavia. Now I am making four points out on this paper about the topics that Japanese ecomuseums before*17, some through firsthand visits and others through traditional informational research sources*3-9. All seem to share common characteristics, and I will attempt to examine the significance of each of these characteristics in comparison to those of

ecomuseums in our country*10,11.

should consider to manage domestic ecomuseums. They are (1) system; de-centralization, (2) participation; by local people, (3) management; collaboration by some neighbor municipalities, and (4) theme; touristic

whole as a mediator functions effectively. Some of the traditional museums do own branch museums in various areas, which do function independently, but they are still managed through centralized

development in local context.

organizations, and are thus more conservative in nature. These cases are found in Yokosuka city museum, Chiba prefectural museum, Suginami city museum and so on. In conservative circumstances, although ecomuseums

2. System : Not centralized

Ecomuseums in some countries function within an organizational structure where a single museum has branch museums in a given area, or the museum owns sites under itself. Suppose we define this as being centralized. Ecomuseums in Scandinavia, especially those in Sweden, take a different approach from this organizational structure. In other words, they are decentralized. A centralized organization is effective when a single leading organization manages the whole group of organizations in a given country or area. However, when ecomuseums are scattered over too widespread an area, it takes tremendous effort and energy for a single organization to manage all of them effectively. The ecomuseums in Sweden and Denmark allow each site to maintain the upkeep of their own site and independently engage in learning activities. For instance, Bergslagen, Nedre- tradalen, Falbygdentradalen, Kristianstad Vattenrike (sv), Grenseland (sv-no), Shjlandets (dk) have no main museum as a head quarter. This is, overall, quite an effective style of ecomuseum activity management. The essence of the activities of these ecomuseums is to encourage the autonomy of each site. This is also an essential role of ecomuseums in general.

promote

conventional

activities

regarding

nature

preservation and history learning, they have difficulty encouraging an orientation toward coming up with new challenges for new eras and opportunities to think about the future of the local area. In the field of ecomuseum in Japan, we have been adopting the centralized model, so-called core satellite model. It is alike the standard of Japanese ecomuseum that the core museum building is strongly standing up and manages all the satellites. Satellite is same or similar as antenne or site. This core and satellite primary standard model was dedicated by Dr. J. Arai, who was the leader of Japanese ecomuseum in 90s (Fig.1)*14. He also mentioned that this model was suspicious because of hierarchy, but it has been popularly spreading out like as template.

In Japan, on the other hand, there are few cases where a leading organization that supports the activities of the 44

Figure 1.

Satellite system 1989 Core and Satellite systemArai 1989

Unlike these conservative organizations, more and more ecomuseum have organized networks of local activity groups to support them in being vigorously involved in their own activities. For example Miura Peninsula ecomuseum, it is a typical decentralized model based on the network among associations in local community (Fig 2) *12. It is also similar to the necklace model by P. Davis which is the form of ecomuseum connecting gems in the territory*13. In addition, we know other ecomuseums with no core museum in Japan, such as

Kawasaki industrial heritage museum, Kawane district ecomuseum, Hirano-cho ecomuseum, and so on. It is not clear whether these ecomuseums in Japan have devised this method on their own through their own activities or whether they learned it from examples from abroad, including the ecomuseums in Sweden.

Nonetheless, it seems that they are at the very least influenced by the practical examples of the

Scandinavian ecomuseums.

in Scandinavia, many local associations exist, which promote activities focused on learning about local

3. Participation : Based on voluntary activity groups of local people

Another thing that the ecomuseum in Japan should learn from their counterparts in Scandinavia is that activities at each site are based on the voluntary lifelong learning activities of local residents. Almost everywhere 45

culture, history and nature, and preserving them all. This can most likely be attributed to the fact that the activity once advocated by Artur Hazelius in Sweden, famous as the founder of Skansen, an activity of trying to examine their own local community to acknowledge that they are a part of it and to confirm their identity, has been promoted for more than a hundred years. It

seems one of traditional ideas in Sweden and Nordic country. The andragogical philosophy for local

with the establishment of voluntary local activities and this takes tremendous energy and effort. Luckily, sometimes these voluntary activities already exist, although the number of people engaged and the level of the activities vary. Consequently, it is worth looking for these activities. The ecomuseums in the and Miura also

lay-people, farmer or worker has a commonality with Folkehoejskole by Nikolaj F.S. Grundtvig in Denmark, Kuluturen i Lund by George Karlin, and local activities by Karl-Erik Forsslund in Dalarna, Sweden. There are Scandinavian traditional ideas and implementations. Furthermore, local residents consider this activity an important part of their life and they do not become tired of it, since they are traditionally and equally involved in local activities. Naturally, their activities continue, and this applies to each ecomuseum site, thereby making the whole area a sustainable community. Ekomuseum Nedre-tradalen, Ekomuseum Falbygden- tradalen,

Peninsula,

Hirano-cho,

Kita-harima

Asahi-machi have already started looking for activities with which to build a network, and it has already produced positive results. Many of them have the active programs run by the old retired people in spite of the young or middle-aged.

Ekomuseum Bergslagen, and Shjlandets komuseum are sustainable ecomuseums of good examples.

The local activities in Japan are obviously fragile in this respect. Japanese males of the age group that is generally working in society seldom participate in local community activities. They invest most of their energy in their corporate life; and their local communities are merely bedrooms where they sleep after their days work. This also applies to Japanese females, who now have more opportunities to work in society than they did in the past. In other words, there is a peculiarity on the local level in Japanese communities that essentially energetic people are not responsible for various local voluntary learning activities. This problem can damage the potential sustainability of a local community. Therefore, it is necessary to reenergize local Figure 3. Volunteers assemble at the meeting of

Kitaecomuseum Kita-harima ecomuseum (photo by A.Yanagida)

4. Management : More than one of the municipalities cooperating with each other to cover a broad range of areas
Many of the ecomuseums in Scandinavia, including Sweden, cover a broad range of areas. In terms of administration, more than one municipality covers the

communities through the activities of ecomuseums. In the case of Scandinavia, where voluntary local activities are common, ecomuseums can be created simply by connecting these activities.

In the case of Japan, however, each site often has to start 46

range. The management bodies of the ecomuseums

have to secure their budgets by receiving subsidies from each municipality and they seem to have considerable difficulty doing so. Actually, they receive subsidies from the municipality, county council, state, and the EU. Ekomuseum Grnsland is the border ecomuseum between Norway and Sweden, which means two countries are concerning with running the project and EU helps, too. Ecomuseums in Sweden except

concept of areas in Japan, which is not restricted by the conventional idea of administrative districts. There are already a few examples of this being attempted in Japan so far, but those that have tried it now face difficulties in terms of maintaining their facilities and reaching an agreement on the proportion of the subsidy assumption.

Kristianstad and Vst-jyllands ekomuseum in Denmark have multi municipal areas. That is, the various local authorities of a local area cooperate with each other to support the area. This is the method that is needed for a cooperative local management to be able to continue to effectively manage the local environment and many of the Scandinavian ecomuseums practice it.

Another related issue is also problematic in being introduced into Japan. Many of the Japanese ecomuseum, Figure 4. Tamagawa river ecomuseum, Core center and the dam. The core center built on the bank (left) in Kawasaki city but the municipality on the right bank is not taking part in the management of this ecomuseum.

municipalities adopt policies that can be completed within each administrative district, and they have almost never attempted anything in cooperation with adjacent municipalities. Therefore, most of the Japanese ecomuseums function within a single municipality in order to maintain its relationship with local

administrative organizations and to gain the subsidy for its support. For instance, Asahi-machi, Tomiura-town, Tamagawa and most of all the Japanese ecomuseum are managed by single town or city, except a few cases such as Miura peninsula, Asan Live Museum and Kawane district. It is curious that Tamagawa river ecomuseum is managed by Kawasaki city singly, because the opposite bank belongs to the other municipality, nonetheless every river has both sides. Many of the ecomuseums in Scandinavia consider the viewpoint of tourists, who visit sites throughout an area, However, a local cultural and geographical area can be different from that of administration. It is expected that if the Scandinavian management style of ecomuseums is introduced and practiced in Japan, it will create a new 47 and these considerations cultural are closely and related to

5. Theme : Each ecomuseum presents a potential tourist oriented attraction, which is open to visitors and presents a distinctive local theme representative of the culture of the area

ecotourism,

tourism

tourism

administration. This means that the ecomuseums in an area can greet visitors with a clear and distinctive theme.

Every ecomuseum in Scandinavia has the simple theme, such as iron making heritage (Bergslagen), wetlands environment (Kristianstad), ancient agricultureal land (Falbygden- tradalen), lake district (Shjlandets), renewal energy (Sams), copper mine and old town (Rrosmuseet) , etc. A characteristic of Scandinavian ecomuseums is the strong relationship between

For example, in case of the Mt. Ashio copper mine, although emphasis is on the tour of the mines tunnel, they hide the negative legacy of the vegetative environment having been polluted and damaged by the mining pollution gas. There are three ecomuseum movements. The tourism authority of town wants touristic/economical development more and more as using the word ecomuseum. Second organization built the visitor center of environmental education, which does not show the severe damage of the pollution, regrettably. The third group is voluntary association consist of local people that makes interpretation of landscape and history as it really is. The former two sectors literally cover the damage in the area by

ecomuseum and tourism, Davis mentioned. He said in his book introducing the worldwide ecomuseums, This model is also closely geared to regional tourism with its resulting economic benefits for local communities. All the Scandinavian countries appear to have adopted this pragmatic approach, (p.220).*13

In terms of the relations between ecomuseums and tourism, Japan is different from Scandinavia in that tourism is far too developed in Japan. I think in our country, mass tourism is a norm and people visit tourist spots intensively for a short time. When facilities are developed specifically for visitors, the tourism industry tries to develop them more to attract visitors

technologically reproducing the original environment, so that tourists do not see the actual environmental damage in that same area. There are pros and cons about this approach, and debates have been continuing about the future direction of this particular project.

Rrosmuseet in Norway is also the famous mining town of copper, which has a particular exhibition in the museum about environmental issues. The organization of conservation in this area also intends to show them local inhabitants together their local cultural and natural history. The history to learn includes both the negative legacy and the environmental recuperative power from the damaged situation. Tourists can visit and appreciate the beautiful town and cultural elements in the world heritage town, and local people can study their polluted history as one of their identity. The ecomuseum is a good learning environment for empowerment of the local identity for the local people. We Japanese ecomuseums must know and do it for local people living the place, not for the visitors from outside.

commercially, thereby making it impossible for the visitors to be as immersed in the local culture as was initially intended. If the number of themes of a local area is limited, it may still be effective in attracting a good number of tourists, but that would only leave what is popular yet among important tourists, historical neglecting heritage

inconspicuous

resources and the natural environment that Japanese tourists usually do not set foot into. It is true that presenting a theme for each area can serve as a way for the local residents to feel proud of who they are and of the fact that they are part of the community. However, it has also been pointed out that too much emphasis on this issue will lead to a disregard of other potential assets and/or problems. 48

Ricerrche Economico-Sociali del Piemonte, 2005 *13 Davis, Peter. Ecomuseums a sense of space, Leicester University press, London, 1999.

6.

Conclusion

References (in Japanese)

*14 Arai, Juzo : General remarks on the Field Museum and Open Air Museum (Yagaihakubutsukansoron), pp.21-46 , Journal of Museological Society of Japan, vol.14, no.1-2, 1989 *15 Larsson, Peter and Edlund, Lennart : Ecomuseums in Sweden, report of conference in 1996, pp.25-28, No.1, Journal of Japan Ecomuseological Society 1996.12 *16 Kirisawa, Chizuko : Bergslagen Ecomuseum, pp.87-97, in Ecomuseum Rinen to Katsudo, Makino Pub. 1997 *17 Ohara, Kazuoki : Ecomuseum heno tabi (Journey to Ecomuseums), KAJIMA publishing, 1999.12

Overall, Scandinavian ecomuseums reflect both the ways of thinking and the life styles of the people living in each local community, presenting valuable

perspectives on how to realize decentralized society, voluntary community activities, cooperation among leadership organizations, clarification and respect of local identity and a community that can maintain these elements. The idea of mutual learning in local community and conservation of heritages is a

museological way of good practices for realizing a sustainable community.

References (in English)

*1 Engstrm, Kjell : 1985, The ecomuseum concept is taking root in Sweden, pp.206-210, Museum, No.148, ICOM (UNESCO) *2 Hudson, Kenneth. 1992. The Dream and the Reality. 20 years of ecomuseums and ecomuseology. Museums Journal (April): pp.27-31. *3 de Varine, Hugues : 1988. Skandinavias plass i ny museologi. Foredrag ved MINOMs 3. internasjonale arbeidsseminar, Toten, Norge sept. 1986. In Gjestrum/Maure: komuseumsboka, pp. 41-46. *4 (Tema): Ekomuseum Bergslagen 10 r , 1996, rgng 1, Ekomuseum Bergslagen *5 Hamrin, rjan : Ekomuseum Bergslagen frn Id till Verklighet, Nordisk Museologi 1996.2, pp.27-34 *6 Bergdahl, Ewa : 1996, Ekomuseet i en Framtidsvision, Nordisk Museologi 1996.2, pp.35-40 *7 (Tema) Noedens ekomuseer, 1997, rgng 2, Ekomuseum Bergslagen *8 Gjestrum, John Aage : 1988, komuseer i Norge, pp.158-162, in Gjestrum/Maure: komuseumsboka *9 de Varine, Hugues. 1988. Rethinking the Museum Concept, Foredrag ved ICOM/UNESCOs konferanse om museer og verdens urbefolkninger i Jokkmokk, Sverige juni 1986, pp. 33-40 in Gjestrum/Maure: komuseumsboka *10 Ohara, Kazuoki. The image of 'Ecomuseum' in Japan, pp.26-27, Pacific Friend, JIJIGAHO-SHA, Vol.25, No.12, 1998.4 *11 Regional Rediscovery and the Ecomuseum (special report), pp.18-25, Pacific Friend, JIJIGAHO-SHA, Vol.25 No.12, 1998.april *12 Ohara, K., and Yanagida, A.: Ecomuseum in Miura Peninsula A Case study to Build Network Model-, pp.41-48, Museum and Citizenship, Quaderrrni di ricerca, No. 108, Instituto di 49

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