Museums as Theme Parks: from the Informational Paradigm to the Reflexive Experience

This paper discusses the definition of museology as a form of information science and analyzes the accepted definitions for museological study. It intends to point out some inconsistencies in the philosophical Stranskyan museology in order to reformulate the notion of its subject of study. This debate will require revision of a philosophical perspective through a sociological viewpoint in light of the actor-network theory proposed by Bruno Latour. Finally, the paper maintains that the man-reality relation forged in the West as a hegemonic museum performance should not define museology’s subject. Otherwise, it should consider all kinds of possible associations among the different roles that are played, evolving from a corpus of reflections on the museum to a reflexive museology that has musealization in the center of its studies.