Tucume ecomuseum: strategies to make cultural heritage an inclusive tool for sustainable development

Abstract

This article summarises the experience in the management of cultural heritage lived in the Museo Túcume, which was based on the scientific research undertaken at the pyramids since 1989, and which continued with the establishment of our museum in 1992. The work of involving the community throughout 31 years of uninterrupted labour was led by criteria of social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability. The Management Plan, which is based on a situational diagnostic of the town plus the conceptualisation of our labour and that of the museum within the paradigm of Social Museology, allowed us to bring scientific knowledge over to the people, learn from popular wisdom, and—with the establishment of the Tucume Ecomuseum—to encourage citizen participation in the pursuit of the sustainable preservation of both the cultural and natural heritage.