Appropriate museology in theory and practice

Appropriate museology is an approach to museum development and training that adapts museum practices and strategies for cultural heritage preservation to local cultural contexts and socioeconomic conditions. It is a bottom-up, community-based approach that combines local knowledge and resources with those of professional museum work to better meet the needs and interests of a particular museum and its community. Appropriate museology advocates the exploration and use of indigenous museological traditions where suitable. Using the Museum Pusaka Nias in Genung Sitoli, North Sumatra, Indonesia, as a case study, this article examines the theoretical foundations and practical applications of appropriate museology. The aim is to stimulate critical thinking on the transfer and cross-cultural application of standard, professional museum models and methods. Keywords: Indigenous museologymuseums and communitymuseums and social responsibilityappropriate technologyinternational developmentdisaster relief and recoveryIndonesia Acknowledgements I am grateful to Father Johannes Hämmerle, Nata'alui Duha and all the staff of Museum Pusaka Nias for their kind hospitality, and for giving me the opportunity to work with them on this project. I am also indebted to all the DU students and staff of the Museum of Anthropology who helped make the DU/Indonesian Exchange Program in Museum Training a success. I am especially thankful to Philip Yampolsky of the Ford Foundation in Jakarta as well as Sarah Bradley of the Asian Cultural Council for facilitating the funding that made the project possible. Many thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers of the article for their helpful comments and to the journal's editor, Dr Robert Janes, for ushering it through to publication.