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About ICME

ICME - the International Committee for Museums of Ethnography - is an international comittee within ICOM - the International Council of Museums.

ICME deals with museums of many names: museums of ethnography, ethnology, anthropology, folk museums, popular culture museums, völkerkunde- and volkskundemuseseums. The list could be longer.

Some of the museums are dealing with cultures from far away, some with their own cultures, and some both. Some work for indigenous peoples, some for immigrants, some for minorities, some for for majorities. Some are concerned with the history, others with the present. Some focus on small societies, others on continents or the whole world.

What these museums usually have in common is that they are about whole societies or cultures and their objects, rather than solely a specific class of objects.

Important issues
Important special issues in recent years have been
  • illicit traffic
  • repatriation questions
  • museums and multicultural societies
  • indigenous cultures and museums
  • museums and local societies
  • new roles for old museums
  • intangible heritage
  • intellectual property issues
  • oral history methods

These issues are today much debated among museum professionals as well as representatives for the public. Those interested participating in these discussions are welcome to join the ICME discussion forum.
ICME - International Committee for Museums and Collections of Ethnography
http://icme.icom.museum
Updated by webmaster, 28.01.07