The National Identity Representation in Bangkok's Museums

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to explore how national identity is represented in different museums in Bangkok. Therefore, three museums in Bangkok were selected as the research subjects: Bangkok National Museum, Museum Siam, and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Through a qualitative research approach, the researcher investigated the above-mentioned objective by engaging with key informants from museums and scholars from the field of museum communication management. Semi-structured interviews were utilized with five key informants. The research findings illustrated that the three selected museums had arranged the exhibitions appropriately according to their nature by utilizing different exhibition communication approaches. These approaches are in line with their specific missions and visions. In brief, these museums have succeeded to a significant extent in communicating the exhibition messages and Thailand’s national identity to visitors from different perspectives. Meanwhile, the research presents national identity and uniqueness that can be showcased in different exhibition approaches, and Thailand’s national identity has lots of layers of interpretation and relations. Moreover, the research explored that museums can serve social interests by showcasing Thailand’s national identity to attract different groups of visitors. Finally, the research found that the advantages and disadvantages of each museum’s exhibition communication approaches mainly originated from their internal fixed conditions. However, they also need to consider the external social and cultural factors when hosting exhibitions in the future.