A Narrative Review of Ecomuseum Literature: Suggesting a Thematic Classification and Identifying Sustainability as a Core Element

Ecomuseology has become an important transdisciplinary field, but until now there is no overview of the existing scholarly literature. In this review we analyzed scholarly articles on ecomuseums thematically with the aim to provide a comprehensive knowledge base for future research and to distill a common denominator for ecomuseum research. Using pre-defined inclusion criteria we identified 61 articles and a comparative thematic analysis revealed the following six themes: “concepts and theories”, “landscape”, “culture and anthropology”, “development”, “management”, and “evaluation”. Though represented in varied thematic expressions, sustainability emerged as a core element in ecomuseology. This demonstrates that sustainability is an implicit and coherent element in ecomuseology. Most of the literature was conceptual, but a few studies included empirical material. Several themes hold potential for future transdisciplinary research as well as for collaboration with museum and community practitioners. The field has the potential to contribute to the larger field of sustainable community development.