The Imperial War Museum London and the First World War Centenary: Reframing History without Losing Identity.

This paper addresses several research questions. The first one is: “can a museum be a tool of public diplomacy?” This must be framed within a specific current debate that questions if Museum Discourse (MD) can be considered part of an intercultural communication process. If we are able to answer these questions we can then explore the relationship between culture and soft power. This will entail that we are supposed to investigate if there is a connection between MD, peace and public diplomacy. Should the synergy of these three areas be confirmed we can then ask if these generate a “product repositioning” and a “rebranding” of the product museum itself. This will also lead us to another important research question, namely “can a museum be considered an asset or a stakeholder of a larger governmental political effort?” This paper, by means of a multimodal analysis of the materials and the communication strategy generated by the Imperial War Museums and the British Government in the occasion of the Celebrations for the First World War Centenary, maintains that the IWMs confirm this trend. An evolution of MD as a set of coordinated communicative strategies can be observed along a continuum that shifts the museum from its traditional definition and function to a tool of public diplomacy. This goal is achieved by means of specifically developed reframing narratives together with traits of intercultural communication and digital modality. This demonstrates that the IWMs are part of a larger, well-coordinated governmental policy. Within this framework it will be shown how the museum is treated as an asset and a stakeholder by political key-players.