“You’ve got your work cut out!”. Digital archives and oral history

Abstract

The text follows an itinerary from virtual museums or digital museums, which through ICTs are permanently accessible, to speci c autobiographical oral his- tory museums that record popular knowledge and that UNESCO recognised as intangible cultural heritage in 2003. These oral history museums adopt a model whose purpose is not restricted to compiling memories from an ethnological perspective, but that displays each life as precious content that actively stren- gthens community ties. Work in digital archives and oral memory museums enables collective identities and concepts of tradition to be processed as cons- tructed institutions. With these new identities, ethnological and historical past is integrated with migratory ows and social and cultural changes.