On ruralities and resistances: the management model of Pusol School Museum (Spain) and the challenges of reciprocal participation between museum and society

Abstract

‘Society in the Museum’ (SoMus) is a research project in Sociomuseology that began in 2014 from Portugal. SoMus aims to define four different participatory management models at four local museums placed in different European countries, taking as starting point their rationales and daily practices. Chosen for the innovative nature of society’s cultural participation, these museums symbolise a diverse range of contexts, cultures and challenges, which allow us to reflect on their place in the construction of new models of full cultural democracy. In this article, we present the model created by the Pusol School Museum (Spain). Its innovative practices in heritage education link up museum and school, knowledge and the appreciation of traditional culture, in a rural area located in the inland of the province of Alicante, at the Southeaster Mediterranean Spanish coast.