| Title | Chapter 14. Back to the Future |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Weaving Climate History into Nordic National Museum Narratives |
| Contributor | Natália Melo (author) |
| Bergsveinn Þórsson(author) | |
| Felix Riede(author) | |
| Stefan Norrgård(author) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.63308/63881023874820.ch14 |
| Landing page | https://www.whpress.co.uk/publications/2025/05/02/nordicclimatehistories/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en |
| Copyright | Natália Nascimento e Melo, Bergsveinn Þórsson, Felix Riede and Stefan Norrgård |
| Publisher | The White Horse Press |
| Published on | 2025-08-15 |
| Long abstract | Museums, perceived as trusted institutions, have significant potential for foster- ing public understanding of climate change. This study examines the integra- tion of climate narratives in the permanent exhibitions of five Nordic national museums. The analyses focused on human-climate relations and the museums’ role as societal reflection and change agents. Despite the growing academic emphasis on the importance of climate narratives in museum exhibitions, the analysis reveals that such narratives were scarce in the studied museums. When present, the narratives were fragmented, isolated themes rather than cohesive and integrated elements of historical storytelling. Additionally, this study ex- plores barriers that prevent the integration of climate narratives in permanent exhibitions and proposes practical curatorial strategies for reframing existing historical narratives. The strategies aim to inspire collective action and critical engagement that position national museums as dynamic platforms for address- ing climate challenges. Finally, the article highlights the necessity for curatorial practices to evolve and integrate inclusive and forward-looking narratives that empower audiences to confront the climate crisis. |
| Page range | pp. 317–336 |
| Print length | 20 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Media | 2 illustrations |
Natália Nascimento e Melo is a researcher at the University of Évora and a collaborator at the Institute of Contemporary History (IHC|IN2PAST). She holds a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science with a specialisation in Museology. Her research explores the intersections of climate, museum narratives and public engagement, with a focus on how the Anthropocene, climate change, and human-climate relations are represented in museums. She is interested in the role of arts in fostering dialogues about science and societal issues, and how material culture shapes public perceptions of environmental change and human-environment relations. She also works on projects related to public history, placemaking and transdisciplinary approaches to citizen participation.
Bergsveinn Þórsson holds a Ph.D. in Museology and is an Associate Professor at Bifröst University in Iceland and Programme Manager for Public Administration. He teaches courses on cultural management, sustainability and the sociology of climate change. His research focuses on the Anthropocene in museums, climate and sustainability implementation in cultural organisations, and speculative future thinking. With a strong interdisciplinary approach, he explores how cultural insti- tutions navigate uncertainty and address global challenges. He is affiliated with the CoFutures Research Group and is currently a Fellow on the project The Nordic Little Ice Age (1300–1900) Lessons from Past Climate Change (NORLIA) at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. In addition, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Nordic Museology and co-curated the Beyond Barcode exhibition at the Interkultural Museum in Oslo, which explored locally generated future scenarios for the city.
Felix Riede is German-born and British educated with a Ph.D. in archaeology from Cambridge University. Inspired by evolutionary and ecological theory and methods, he seeks to understand human-environment relations past, present and future. His work focuses on major tipping point episodes such as the end of the Pleistocene, extreme environmental events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis, novel ecosystems, and on the archaeology of the Anthropocene. After leaving Cambridge for UCL and then Aarhus University, Felix is now Professor, affiliated both with the Departments of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, and of Biology. At Aarhus, he founded the Centre for Environmental Humanities; he was also Visiting Professor at the Oslo Centre for Environmental Humanities and Visiting Scholar at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. Felix brings a distinct perspective on deep time and material relations to environmental history.
Stefan Norrgård is a senior researcher and climate historian at the Department of History at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. Subsequent to reconstruct- ing climate in West Africa during the 1700s, his research interests have centred on riverine ice breakups in Finland. He has reconstructed spring ice breakups for both the Aura River (Turku) and the Kokemäki River (Pori) between the 1700s and 2000s. He has several publications on ice breakups but his research field also covers historical climate adaptation processes and meteorological observations in Finland and Sweden in the 1700s. His ongoing research project, founded by the Kone Foundation, investigates climate, culture and society in Finland in the 1700s.