Governmentality and cultural participation in Estonian public knowledge institutions
Date
2013-08-13
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Abstract
Doktoritöös on analüüsitud Eesti muuseumides ja raamatukogudes külastajatega seonduvaid võimusuhteid. Aluseks on võetud teoreetiline eeldus, et võim ja valitsemiskunst ei kuulu ainult poliitikute mängumaa, vaid ulatuvad väga erinevatesse ühiskonnakihtidesse ning valdkondadesse. Töö eesmärgiks oli uurida valitsemiskunsti võtteid, mille kaudu külastajatele lähenetakse, ning seda, missuguseid kultuuriosaluse võimalusi (ehk siis võimalusi kultuuri tarbida või luua) muuseumides ja raamatukogudes nendest võtetest tulenevalt külastajatele pakutakse. Uurimistulemusteni jõudmiseks rakendati erinevaid kvalitatiivseid meetodeid, mis järgivad kvalitatiivse uurimisviisi põhimõtteid – küsimus oli seega valitsemiskunsti võtete ja kultuuriosaluse võimaluste pakkumise tuvastamises, mitte aga nende mõõtmises. Tööks kasutatud materjal on kogutud kahest Eesti mõjukamast avalikust teadmusasutusest: Tartu Ülikooli Raamatukogust ja Eesti Rahva Muuseumist.
Nende asutuste külastajate ja töötajate intervjuudest ning tagasisidedest, aga ka strateegilistest dokumentidest ilmnesid valitsemiskunsti strateegiatena külastajate distsiplineerimine, nende kategoriseerimine, eristamine teistest külastajatest ning (külastajate ideede) inkorporeerimine. Valitsemiskunsti toetavad olulisel määral kõnetamisviisid – näiteks kas külastajat kutsutakse „kliendiks“, „sõbraks“ või pöörataksegi talle tähelepanu kõikehõlmavat „külastaja“ mõistet kasutades. Samas tuleb rõhutada, et nimetatud kõnetamisviisid moodustavad nö jäämäe tipu – ülejäänud „jäämägi“ koosneb enesestmõistetavateks muutunud praktikatest („harimine“, „teenindamine“ jne), mis muuseumi või raamatukogu külastust vormivad. Nende praktikate abil luuakse ka külastajale võimalusi kultuuriosaluseks: näiteks näituste külastamist või omapoolse kultuurilise panustamise läbi. Tasakaalu leidmine enesestmõistetavate ja uute võimaluste (kohati ka pealesurutud) proovimise vahel on aga oluline põhimõte, mida doktoritöös lõpuks rõhutatakse.
In this doctoral thesis, visitor-related power relations in Estonian museums and libraries have been analysed by taking into account the theoretical assumption that power and governmentality are not just a ‘playground’ for politicians, but reach into various levels and fields of the society. The goal of the thesis has been to study modes of governance through which the visitors are approached, and which possibilities to participate in culture are thus offered to visitors of museums and libraries. Various qualitative methods were applied to find out the results – the question was thus in detecting, not measuring modes of governance and possibilities of cultural participation. The material for the thesis was collected in two influential Estonian public knowledge institutions: the University of Tartu Library, and the Estonian National Museum. From the interviews and feedbacks of visitors and staff, but also from the strategic documents of those institutions, disciplining, categorization, exclusion (of visitors), and incorporation (of ideas of visitors) were emerging as strategies of governance. Governance is also supported by ways of articulating – whether the visitor is called a ‘customer’, ‘friend’ or it the all-inclusive ‘visitor’ the case. However, these ways of articulating form just a ‘top of the iceberg’ – the rest of the ‘iceberg’ is made up of often taken for granted practices (e.g. ‘educating’, ‘serving’) shaping the visit to a museum or a library. These taken-for-grantednesses are also closely related to cultural participation: is the visitor assumed to visit an exhibition or is the visitor provided with opportunities to contribute culturally. Finding the balance between taken for granted and new (sometimes imposed) opportunities is an important principle, eventually emphasized in the thesis.
In this doctoral thesis, visitor-related power relations in Estonian museums and libraries have been analysed by taking into account the theoretical assumption that power and governmentality are not just a ‘playground’ for politicians, but reach into various levels and fields of the society. The goal of the thesis has been to study modes of governance through which the visitors are approached, and which possibilities to participate in culture are thus offered to visitors of museums and libraries. Various qualitative methods were applied to find out the results – the question was thus in detecting, not measuring modes of governance and possibilities of cultural participation. The material for the thesis was collected in two influential Estonian public knowledge institutions: the University of Tartu Library, and the Estonian National Museum. From the interviews and feedbacks of visitors and staff, but also from the strategic documents of those institutions, disciplining, categorization, exclusion (of visitors), and incorporation (of ideas of visitors) were emerging as strategies of governance. Governance is also supported by ways of articulating – whether the visitor is called a ‘customer’, ‘friend’ or it the all-inclusive ‘visitor’ the case. However, these ways of articulating form just a ‘top of the iceberg’ – the rest of the ‘iceberg’ is made up of often taken for granted practices (e.g. ‘educating’, ‘serving’) shaping the visit to a museum or a library. These taken-for-grantednesses are also closely related to cultural participation: is the visitor assumed to visit an exhibition or is the visitor provided with opportunities to contribute culturally. Finding the balance between taken for granted and new (sometimes imposed) opportunities is an important principle, eventually emphasized in the thesis.
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Keywords
Tartu Ülikooli Raamatukogu, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, raamatukogud, ülikooliraamatukogud, muuseumid, külastajad, valitsemine, juhtimine, kultuuritarbimine, kvalitatiivsed uurimismeetodid, University of Tartu Library, Estonian National Museum, libraries, university libraries, museums, visitors, governance, management, qualitative reserch, strateegiad, strategies, consumption of culture