Place – Border – Network. On some Implications of Digitalization in the Sorbian Museological Field

Abstract

Place – Border – Network. On some Implications of Digitalization in the Sorbian Museological Field

Digitalization is becoming increasingly important both as a practical task and as a theoretical field of research in Sorbian studies. This also applies to the field of museology. Using three historical waymarks as examples, this essay examines the current status of research of Sorbian/Wendish museum collections in Sorbian museology, where desiderata exist, and what potential and risks digitalization holds for the future in this field. A dialectical field is emerging that is characterised on the one hand by a growing sovereignty in dealing with its own material cultural heritage, but in which, on the other hand, established mechanisms of minority experience are challenged and questioned. In conclusion, the article argues for the participatory involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups in dealing with this area of tension in Sorbian digitalization, and for regarding it as an opportunity.