“Comércios de antigamente. Vivências e memórias” 1: construção e representação de significados culturais no Museu Municipal de Loures

This paper presents a theoretic approach to the analysis of museums as signifying cultural institutions where we can observe the production, communication and consumption of cultural meanings. It also aims to address the narratives they present, as well as the specific contexts of their production, which cannot be isolated from the wider context of contemporary societies and the global economic, cultural, communicative and population flows in which they are embedded. The analysis of a specific exhibition held at a local museum illustrates these processes of production, representation and communication of meanings in a contemporary museum context. The exhibition is marked by the articulation of traditional and innovative elements, by the confluence of global, national and local referents, as well as by the coexistence of cultural homogenization and heterogenization.