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Inclusive Museum and the Represantation of
Ali Malziri papi1 , Parviz Eghbali *2
1- Shahed
2- Shahed , Eghbali@shahed.ac.ir
Abstract:   (41 Views)
The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha, Qatar the country's most visited museum in 2022 has reimagined its galleries. Despite the discursive significance of this museum and the application of museological tools in this transformation, the museum has not yet been studied from the perspective of "New Museology." This research aims to elucidate the process of the museum's discursive turn and to identify its constitutive elements. Accordingly, the following questions are raised: 1) what changes has the reinstallation of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha introduced to the museum's narrative discourse? 2) Which concepts of New Museology have been employed to advance the museum's discourse? This is a qualitative study that adopts the discourse-theoretical approach of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, grounded in the paradigm of "New Museology." The unit of analysis comprises all eighteen redesigned galleries. Findings indicate that the museum, influenced by critiques and field research conducted on both the collections and visitors over the past decade, has decided to transform its installation. The museum has shifted its central signifier from "Islamic Art" (object oriented), leaning toward a postcolonial space, to the signifier "Islamic Civilization" (meaning oriented), and by employing an inclusive museology, has reconstituted the notion of a unified ummah as an empty signifier. Consequently, this reimagining mobilizes three principal tenets of New Museology namely, inclusivity, accessibility, and diversity – which correspond, respectively, to three discursive components: "the Islamic ummah as a global community," "Islam as a rational faith," and "Islam as a religion of cultural diversity."
Keywords: Doha Museum of Islamic Art, Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Theory, New Museology, inclusion, Islamic Civilization
     
Type of Study: Original Research | Subject: 2
Received: 2026/03/7 | Accepted: 2026/08/8
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