As conservators of heritage and protectors of patrimony, museums are key players in public discourse about national identity and collective memory. The cultural roles and meanings of the museum as an institution are changing in relationship to local and global currents. Factors include the adoption of digital technologies, the repatriation of cultural artifacts, and the opening of new blockbuster museums. This special issue of Museum Anthropology builds upon a nodal taxonomic model for classifying museum practices, audiences, and the organization of evidence. The collected articles juxtapose cross‐cultural case studies drawn from Africa, Europe, and the United States. Topics include the use of evidence in the global circulation of popular African art, discussions of repatriation and decolonization in German museums, the “museum boom” in Poland’s new political climate, and the development of a unique local museum based on minimalist art near the US–Mexican border. The comparative cases demonstrate how museums of different types respond to civic contestations, public debates, and institutional transformations. Curatorial narratives support the use of evidence in contrasting ways as museums build and revitalize their collections. These shifts influence the interpretation of evidence and the display of artifacts both within individual museums and across the global museum landscape.

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博物馆的轨迹和公众讨论中的证据问题：特刊简介

作为遗产保护者和遗产保护者，博物馆是有关民族认同和集体记忆的公共讨论的主要参与者。博物馆作为一个机构的文化角色和意义正随着与当地和全球潮流的关系而变化。这些因素包括采用数字技术，遣返文物和开设新的大型博物馆。博物馆人类学专刊建立在节点分类模型的基础上，该模型用于分类博物馆的做法，听众和证据的组织。收集的文章将来自非洲，欧洲和美国的跨文化案例研究并列在一起。主题包括在全球流行的非洲艺术中使用证据，在德国博物馆中讨论遣返和非殖民化，在波兰新的政治环境中“博物馆繁荣”，以及在美国附近建立以极简主义艺术为基础的独特地方博物馆–墨西哥边境。比较案例表明，不同类型的博物馆如何应对公民竞赛，公开辩论和机构转型。策展叙事支持以相反的方式使用证据，因为博物馆在建造和振兴其藏品。