Farm Fiction: Experiencing Narrative Identities in the Swiss Ballenberg Museum

This qualitative hermeneutic case study examines the Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg as a dynamic narrative landscape in which collective identity is performatively negotiated through spatial, material, and cultural scripts. Drawing on Bruner’s concept of narrative identity, Halbwachs’ theory of collective memory, and material-relational perspectives from phenomenological archaeology and New Materialism, the study investigates how museum spatial arrangements mediate memory and belonging. The analyses integrate phenomenological field observations with GIS-based spatial methods (kernel density and viewshed analyses) to identify two recurring spatial patterns–“aggregation fields” and “percolation fields.” These spatial formations activate affective narratives that reveal Ballenberg as a performative site where hegemonic national myths are simultaneously reproduced and subtly contested. By connecting narrative psychology, memory studies, and spatial humanities, the study demonstrates how objects and landscapes function as coconstructors of collective meaning. The findings hold implications for museology and public history, emphasizing the need for reflexive curatorial practices that acknowledge the politics of memory embedded in heritage environments.