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Museums as Cultures of Copies: The Crafting of Artefacts and Authenticity (Routledge Research in Museum Studies)
by Brita Brenna Hans Dam Christensen Olav HamranFew institutions are warier of copies than museums. Few fields of knowledge are more prone to denounce copies as fake than the heritage field. Few discourses are as concerned with authenticity, aura, originals and provenance as those concerning exhibiting and collecting. So why is it that these are institutions, fields and discourses where copies proliferate and copying techniques have thrived for hundreds of years? Museums as Cultures of Copies aims to make the copying practices of museums visible and to discuss, from a range of interrelated perspectives, precisely what function copies fulfil in the heritage field and in museums today. With contributions from Europe and Canada, the book interrogates the meaning of copies and presents copying as a fully integrated part of museum work. Including chapters on ethnographic mannequins, digitalized photos, death masks, museum documentation and mechanical models, contributors consider how copying as a cultural form changes according to time and place and how new forms of copying and copy technologies challenge and expand museum work today. Arguing that copying is at the basis of museum practice and that new technologies and practices have been taken up and developed in museums since their inception, the book presents both heritage work and copies in a new light. Museums as Cultures of Copies should be of great interest to academics, scholars and postgraduate students working in the fields of museum and heritage studies, as well as visual studies, cultural history and archaeology. It should also be essential reading for museum practitioners.
Museums as Ritual Sites: Civilizing Rituals Reconsidered
by Lieke Wijnia James S. BieloMuseums as Ritual Sites critically examines the assumption that museums inherently function as ritual sites and, in turn, are poised to exert influence on cultural and societal change.Bringing together a diverse, international group of interdisciplinary scholars and curators, the volume celebrates and critically engages with Carol Duncan’s seminal work, Civilizing Rituals. Presenting a wide-ranging exploration of how museums function as liminal zones in broader societal contexts, the book discusses major topics identified as functioning at the heart of the above-mentioned paradigm shift: diversity and inclusion, consumption, religion, and tradition. These topics are studied through the lens of their ritual implications in museum practice. Presenting case studies on ethnographic, art, history, community, and memorial practices in museums, the book reflects the diversity of the contemporary international museum field. As such, the volume presents a critical and updated revision of the ritual perspective on museums - both as it was presented by Duncan and as it has since been developed in the field of museum studies.Museums as Ritual Sites will be essential reading for academics and students working in museum studies, heritage studies, cultural anthropology, religious studies, and ritual studies. Museums as Ritual Sites will also be of interest to those working across the humanities and social sciences who are interested in the intersection of museums or archives with indigeneity and decolonization.
Museums at the Crossroads?: Essays on Cultural Institutions in a Time of Change
by Jack LohmanIn this collection of illuminating essays, Jack Lohman, chief executive officer of the Royal British Columbia Museum, shares his views on the role of museums in the various cultures of the world, on the importance of architecture and design in the personality of a museum, on the challenges of creating resilient cultural institutions in the face of financial crises, and much more. He speaks from the heart and from his many years of experience in some of the great museums, in London, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Warsaw and many other cities around the world.
The Museum’s Borders: On the Challenge of Knowing and Remembering Well
by Simon KnellThe Museum’s Borders demonstrates that museum practices are deeply entangled in border making, patrol, mitigation and erasure, and that the border lens offers a new tool for deconstructing and reconfiguring such practices. Arguing that the museum is a critical institution for the operation of knowledge-based democracies, Knell investigates how they have been used by scientists, art historians and historians to construct our bordered world. Examining the role of museums in the Windrush scandal in Britain, the exclusion of Black artists in America, ideological and propaganda discourses in Europe and China, and the remembering of contested pasts in the Balkans, Knell argues for the importance of museums in countering unethical, nationalistic, post-fact political discourse. Using the principles of Knell’s ‘Contemporary Museology’, The Museum’s Borders considers the significance of the museum for societies that wish to know and remember in ways that empower citizens and build cohesive societies. The book will be of great interest to students and academics engaged in the study of museums and heritage, art history, science studies, cultural studies, anthropology, memory studies and history. It is required reading for museum professionals seeking to adopt non-discriminatory practices.
Museums, Children and Social Action: Past, Present and Future (Global Perspectives on Children in Museums)
by Sharon E. ShafferMuseums, Children and Social Action examines the role that museums play in reaching, teaching and inspiring children as global citizens of the world and, looking to the future, argues that the sustainability of museums will come from strengthening relationships with young visitors. Presenting a diverse range of programs, exhibitions and outreach from museums across five continents, Shaffer highlights how museums are already serving children and making a difference in their lives. Arguing that museums have a unique responsibility to connect this audience with relevant social issues and challenges, such as social injustice, racism, climate change and poverty, Shaffer simultaneously acknowledges that a large number of children are still on the margins of the institution and its mission. Recognizing the ways in which museums are currently serving children, the book also considers what museums could and should be doing as they plan for the future, raising critical questions about core values, community partners and social agendas. Museums, Children and Social Action is essential reading for academics and students engaged in the study of museums, social justice and childhood. It encourages museums to make it their mission to educate and serve this audience and their families for the good of children, as well as museums, while also considering what their institutions can do to make a lasting impact on children and their families.
Museums, Collections and Social Repair in Vietnam (Routledge Research on Museums and Heritage in Asia)
by Graeme WereMuseums, Collections and Social Repair in Vietnam analyses the relationship between museums, collections and social repair in contemporary Vietnam. Drawing on fieldwork in a range of museums in the country, alongside interviews with museum workers and stakeholders, and analyses of museum exhibitions, the book explores how museums help ordinary people overcome loss suffered during conflict. Focusing on key objects in museum collections that elicit strong emotions or feelings, Graeme Were examines their relationship to social repair and transformation, in order to understand what mobilises survivors, families and communities to recover and re-evaluate memory and give prominence to grievances and loss or future hopes and aspirations. Arguing that nationalist frameworks no longer adequately account for the diverse agendas of Vietnamese museums, this book brings into question the dynamics between history and memory; the capacity of the museum to repair injury, loss or suffering; and the limits of historical memory beyond the control of a one-party state. Museums, Collections and Social Repair in Vietnam analyses the role of museums in transforming lives and creating a just future. It will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums, heritage, Asia, tourism and anthropology.
Museums, Emotion, and Memory Culture: The Politics of the Past in Turkey (Routledge Research in Museum Studies)
by Gönül BozoğluMuseums, Emotion, and Memory Culture examines the politics of emotion in history museums, combining approaches and concerns from museum, heritage and memory studies, anthropology and studies of emotion. Exploring the meanings and politics of memory contests in Turkey, a site for complex negotiations of identity, the book asks what it means for museums to charge the past with political agendas through spectacular, emotive representations. Providing an in-depth examination of emotional practice in two Turkish museums that present contrasting representations of the national past, the book analyses relationships between memory, governmentality, identity, and emotion. The museums discussed celebrate Ottoman and Early Republican pasts, linking to geo- and party politics, people’s senses of who they are, popular memory culture, and competing national stories and identities vis-à-vis Europe and the wider world. Both museums use dramatic, emotive panoramas as key displays and the research at the heart of this book explores this seemingly anachronistic choice, and how it links with memory cultures to prompt visitors to engage imaginatively, socially, politically and morally with a particular version of the past. Although the book focuses on museums in Turkey, it uses this as a platform to address broader questions about memory culture, emotion, and identity. As such, Museums and Memory Culture should be of great interest to academics and students around the world who are engaged in the study of museums, heritage, culture, history, politics, anthropology, sociology, and the psychology of emotion.
Museums for Peace: In Search of History, Memory, and Change
by Joyce Apsel Clive Barrett Roy TamashiroMuseums for Peace: In Search of History, Memory and Change highlights the inspiring as well as conflicting representations and purposes of diverse museums for peace around the world. Coming from various cultural and professional backgrounds, the authors explore “what are museums for peace and what do they mean?” Some chapters introduce alternative histories of peace, conflict, and memorialization. This innovative collection examines grassroots museums, military sexual slavery, historical memory in East Asia, and cultural heritage in the Africanized peace museum movement. The chapters discuss differing representations of Gandhi, technology of war and opposition to it, and structural violence such as racial terror and imperialism. Investigating how institutions interact with political and cultural forces, the volume demonstrates that some museums reinforce hegemonic narratives, while others resist authoritative tropes to reveal silenced histories, including peace histories. Museums for Peace will appeal to academics and students in museum studies, heritage studies, peace studies, memory studies, social justice, and human rights. Those working in cultural studies and trauma studies will also find this volume valuable.
Museums for Peace: In Search of History, Memory, and Change
by Joyce Apsel Clive Barrett Roy TamashiroMuseums for Peace: In Search of History, Memory and Change highlights the inspiring as well as conflicting representations and purposes of diverse museums for peace around the world.Coming from various cultural and professional backgrounds, the authors explore “what are museums for peace and what do they mean?” Some chapters introduce alternative histories of peace, conflict, and memorialization. This innovative collection examines grassroots museums, military sexual slavery, historical memory in East Asia, and cultural heritage in the Africanized peace museum movement. The chapters discuss differing representations of Gandhi, technology of war and opposition to it, and structural violence such as racial terror and imperialism. Investigating how institutions interact with political and cultural forces, the volume demonstrates that some museums reinforce hegemonic narratives, while others resist authoritative tropes to reveal silenced histories, including peace histories.Museums for Peace will appeal to academics and students in museum studies, heritage studies, peace studies, memory studies, social justice, and human rights. Those working in cultural studies and trauma studies will also find this volume valuable.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Museums, Health and Well-Being
by Helen Chatterjee Guy NobleThe role of museums in enhancing well-being and improving health through social intervention is one of the foremost topics of importance in the museums sector today. With an aging population and emerging policies on the social responsibilities of museums, the sector is facing an unprecedented challenge in how to develop services to meet the needs of its communities in a more holistic and inclusive way. This book sets the scene for the future of museums where the health and well-being of communities is top of the agenda. The authors draw together existing research and best practice in the area of museum interventions in health and social care and offer a detailed overview of the multifarious outcomes of such interactions, including benefits and challenges. This timely book will be essential reading for museum professionals, particularly those involved in access and education, students of museums and heritage studies, as well as practitioners of arts in health, art therapists, care and community workers.
Museums, Heritage and Indigenous Voice: Decolonizing Engagement (Routledge Research in Museum Studies #10)
by Bryony OnciulCurrent discourse on Indigenous engagement in museum studies is often dominated by curatorial and academic perspectives, in which community voice, viewpoints, and reflections on their collaborations can be under-represented. This book provides a unique look at Indigenous perspectives on museum community engagement and the process of self-representation, specifically how the First Nations Elders of the Blackfoot Confederacy have worked with museums and heritage sites in Alberta, Canada, to represent their own culture and history. Situated in a post-colonial context, the case-study sites are places of contention, a politicized environment that highlights commonly hidden issues and naturalized inequalities built into current approaches to community engagement. Data from participant observation, archives, and in-depth interviewing with participants brings Blackfoot community voice into the text and provides an alternative understanding of self and cross-cultural representation. Focusing on the experiences of museum professionals and Blackfoot Elders who have worked with a number of museums and heritage sites, Indigenous Voices in Cultural Institutions unpicks the power and politics of engagement on a micro level and how it can be applied more broadly, by exposing the limits and challenges of cross-cultural engagement and community self-representation. The result is a volume that provides readers with an in-depth understanding of the nuances of self-representation and decolonization.
Museums, Heritage and International Development (Routledge Studies in Culture and Development #1)
by Paul Basu Wayne ModestWhile many claims are made regarding the power of cultural heritage as a driver and enabler of sustainable development, the relationship between museums, heritage and development has received little academic scrutiny. This book stages a critical conversation between the interdisciplinary fields of museum studies, heritage studies and development studies to explore this under-researched sphere of development intervention. In an agenda-setting introduction, the editors explore the seemingly oppositional temporalities and values represented by these "past-making" and "future-making" projects, arguing that these provide a framework for mutual critique. Contributors to the volume bring insights from a wide range of academic and practitioner perspectives on a series of international case studies, which each raise challenging questions that reach beyond merely cultural concerns and fully engage with both the legacies of colonial power inequalities and the shifting geopolitical dynamics of contemporary international relations. Cultural heritage embodies different values and can be instrumentalized to serve different economic, social and political objectives within development contexts, but the past is also intrinsic to the present and is foundational to people’s aspirations for the future. Museums, Heritage and International Development explores the problematics as well as potentials, the politics as well as possibilities, in this fascinating nexus.
Museums, Identity and Family Practices (Routledge Research in Museum Studies)
by Theano MoussouriMuseums, Identity and Family Practices locates museum participation and meaning making in the realm of everyday family practices, which are central to understanding the role museums play in family social life.Drawing on a substantial amount of data from a wide range of sources, Moussouri discusses the importance of understanding how family practices are enacted across settings and how the arena of the museum can facilitate certain family practices and impede others. Developing and theorising key concepts, the book elucidates the key research themes, including everyday family practice; meaning making; and the structural characteristics of museums as arenas for the family visit activity. The analysis is rooted in a dialectical theoretical framework specifically developed to bridge the macrolevel (social order or the arena of the museum) and microlevel (family practices).Museums, Identity and Family Practices offers a novel and holistic approach to studying contemporary families and, as such, is key reading for scholars and students of museum and heritage studies, family studies, visitor studies, cultural studies, education, sociology and anthropology. Museum and heritage professionals working with families in different communities around the world will also find this book relevant to their practice.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Museums in Britain
by Christine GarwoodMuseums are at the heart of the nation's cultural life, bastions of Britishness in almost every major city and town. Together they detail myriad aspects of our heritage: from lawnmowers to cuckoo clocks, pencils to chairs, there seems to be no end to the subject matter deemed worthy of collection and public display. This overview of museums in Britain traces their development from 'cabinets of curiosity' to large scale visitor attractions, taking in broad social shifts and trends as well as the collectors, eccentrics and visionaries and the legacies they have left.
Museums in Israel after the Holocaust: A Multifaceted History of Cultural Heritage (Cultural Heritage, Art and Museums in the Middle East)
by Shir Gal KochaviMuseums in Israel After the Holocaust explores the influence of the traumatic events of the Holocaust on the formation of a cultural heritage policy during the foundational years of the State of Israel.Based on primary research, the book offers a new understanding of cultural practices after the Second World War, while analyzing the role of key Jewish cultural representatives who shaped museum collections that emerged during this period. The book investigates the ways Israel has dealt with the complicated history of “heirless” Jewish cultural objects and questions of ownership, by providing a detailed examination of the process of allocation of “heirless” Jewish cultural property handled by two American-Jewish organizations: the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO) and the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction (JCR) in the immediate years following the Second World War. The book takes a material culture approach, which explores the meanings and values attached to an object over the course of time and during its transition between different owners.Museums in Israel After the Holocaust is essential reading for academics, students, and professionals working on and interested in Holocaust and Israel studies, art history, material culture studies, museum studies, cultural heritage, and Middle Eastern studies.
Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums (Second Edition)
by Edward P. Alexander Mary AlexanderThis book presents the history of museums since the eighteenth century with a detailed examination of the function of museums and museum workers in modern society.
Museums in the New Mediascape: Transmedia, Participation, Ethics (Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities)
by Jenny KiddThe museum today faces complex questions of definition, representation, ethics, aspiration and economic survival. Alongside this we see burgeoning use of an array of new media including increasingly dynamic web portals and content, digital archives, social networks, blogs and online games. At the heart of this are changes to the idea of ’visitor’ and ’audience’ and their participation and representation in the new cultural sphere. This insightful book unpacks a number of contradictions that help to frame and articulate digital media work in the museum and questions what constitutes authentic participation. Based on original empirical research and a range of case studies the author explores questions about the museum as media from a number of different disciplines and shows that across museums and the study of them, the cultural logic is changing.
Museums, Infinity and the Culture of Protocols: Ethnographic Collections and Source Communities (Museums in Focus)
by Howard MorphyMuseums, Infinity and the Culture of Protocols enters a dialogue about museums’ responsibility for the curation of their collections into an infinite future while also tackling contentious issues of repatriation and digital access to collections. Bringing into focus a number of key debates centred on ethnographic collections and their relationship with source communities, Morphy considers the value material objects have to different ‘local’ communities – the museum and the source community – and the value-creation processes with which they are entangled. The focus on values and value brings the issue of repatriation and access into a dialogue between the two locals, questioning who has access to collections and whose values are taken into consideration. Placing the museum itself firmly at the centre of the debate, Morphy posits that museums constitute a kind of ‘local’ embedded in a trajectory of value. Museums, Infinity and the Culture of Protocols challenges aspects of postcolonial theory that position museums in the past by presenting an argument that places relationships with communities as central to the future of museums. This makes the book essential reading for academics and students working in the fields of museum and heritage studies, anthropology, archaeology, Indigenous studies, cultural studies, and history.
Museums Inside Out: Artist Collaborations and New Exhibition Ecologies
by Mark W. RectanusAn ambitious study of what it means to be a museum in the twenty-first century In Museums Inside Out, Mark W. Rectanus investigates how museums are blurring the boundaries between their gallery walls and public spaces. He examines how artists are challenging and changing museums, taking readers deep into new experiments in exhibition making. Along the way, Rectanus offers insights about how museums currently exemplify the fusion of the creative and digital economies. Exploring contemporary museum practices, initiatives, and collaborations, Rectanus analyzes projects like the Collective Museum, which foster land-based museum ecologies by co-curating with local communities. The Schirn Kunsthalle, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, and Tate Modern reflect museums as cultural zones for performance, inside and outside the museum. In addition, he studies a joint project between the Van Gogh Museum and the investment firm Deloitte Luxembourg, extracting insights on the transfer of expertise from museums to the financial sector. Wide-ranging in its case studies, and boldly putting museum studies and art into conversation, Museums Inside Out delivers vital insights into the ideas and places that museums are creating in contemporary culture.
Museums, International Exhibitions and China's Cultural Diplomacy (Routledge Research in Museum Studies)
by Da KongMuseums, International Exhibitions and China’s Cultural Diplomacy examines the role museums and, more specifically, international exhibitions, have played in shaping China’s international image to date. Drawing on theories and methods from museum studies and international relations, the book evaluates the contribution international exhibitions make to China’s cultural diplomacy strategy. Considering their impact on the country’s international image, Kong also probes the mechanisms and processes involved, examining in detail the policy of, and international activities promoted by, the Chinese government. The book also analyses the motives of the Chinese and overseas museums that host these exhibitions. Taking some major exhibitions that were on show in the UK during the 21st century as a representative case study, the book reveals the mechanisms by which these exhibitions were developed and shared overseas. Questioning who really shapes the image of China, Kong challenges Western assumptions and looks ahead to consider whether, moving forward, the Chinese government and museums could work together in a mutually beneficial way. Museums, International Exhibitions and China’s Cultural Diplomacy contributes to the growing literature on museums and diplomacy. As such, it will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums and heritage, international relations, culture, politics, China and wider Asia.
Museums Matter: In Praise of the Encyclopedic Museum (The Rice University Campbell Lectures)
by James CunoThe concept of an encyclopedic museum was born of the Enlightenment, a manifestation of society’s growing belief that the spread of knowledge and the promotion of intellectual inquiry were crucial to human development and the future of a rational society. But in recent years, museums have been under attack, with critics arguing that they are little more than relics and promoters of imperialism. Could it be that the encyclopedic museum has outlived its usefulness? With Museums Matter, James Cuno, president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago, replies with a resounding “No!” He takes us on a brief tour of the modern museum, from the creation of the British Museum—the archetypal encyclopedic collection—to the present, when major museums host millions of visitors annually and play a major role in the cultural lives of their cities. Along the way, Cuno acknowledges the legitimate questions about the role of museums in nation-building and imperialism, but he argues strenuously that even a truly national museum like the Louvre can’t help but open visitors’ eyes and minds to the wide diversity of world cultures and the stunning art that is our common heritage. Engaging with thinkers such as Edward Said and Martha Nussbaum, and drawing on examples from the politics of India to the destruction of the Bramiyan Buddhas to the history of trade and travel, Cuno makes a case for the encyclopedic museum as a truly cosmopolitan institution, promoting tolerance, understanding, and a shared sense of history—values that are essential in our ever more globalized age. Powerful, passionate, and to the point, Museums Matter is the product of a lifetime of working in and thinking about museums; no museumgoer should miss it.
Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe: Peoples, Places and Identities
by Christopher Whitehead Susannah Eckersley Katherine Lloyd Rhiannon MasonThe imperatives surrounding museum representations of place have shifted from the late eighteenth century to today. The political significance of place itself has changed and continues to change at all scales, from local, civic, regional to national and supranational. At the same time, changes in population flows, migration patterns and demographic movement now underscore both cultural and political practice, be it in the accommodation of ’diversity’ in cultural and social policy, scholarly explorations of hybridity or in state immigration controls. This book investigates the historical and contemporary relationships between museums, places and identities. It brings together contributions from international scholars, academics, practitioners from museums and public institutions, policymakers, and representatives of associations and migrant communities to explore all these issues.
Museums, Modernity and Conflict: Museums and Collections in and of War since the Nineteenth Century (Routledge Research in Museum Studies)
by Kate HillMuseums, Modernity and Conflict examines the history of the relationship between museums, collections and war, revealing how museums have responded to and been shaped by war and conflicts of various sorts. Written by a mixture of museum professionals and academics and ranging across Europe, North America and the Middle East, this book examines the many ways in which museums were affected by major conflicts such as the World Wars, considers how and why they attempted to contribute to the war effort, analyses how wartime collecting shaped the nature of the objects held by a variety of museums, and demonstrates how museums of war and of the military came into existence during this period. Closely focused around conflicts which had the most wide-ranging impact on museums, this collection includes reflections on museums such as the Louvre, the Stedelijk in the Netherlands, the Canadian War Museum and the State Art Collections Dresden. Museums, Modernity and Conflict will be of interest to academics and students worldwide, particularly those engaged in the study of museums, war and history. Showing how the past continues to shape contemporary museum work in a variety of different and sometimes unexpected ways, the book will also be of interest to museum practitioners.
Museums, Objects, and Collections: A Cultural Study
by Susan PearceThis book examines the historical context of museums, their collections, and the objects that form them. Susan M. Pearce probes the psychological and social reasons that people collect and identifies three modes of collecting: collecting as souvenirs, as fetishes, and as systematic assemblages. She considers how museum professionals set policies of collection management; acquire, study, and exhibit objects; and make meaning of the objects in their care. Pearce also explores the ideological relationship between museums and their collections and the intellectual and social relationships of museums to the public.
The Museums of Contemporary Art: Notion and Development (Routledge Revivals Ser.)
by J. Pedro LorenteWhere, how, by whom and for what were the first museums of contemporary art created? These are the key questions addressed by J. Pedro Lorente in this new book. In it he explores the concept and history of museums of contemporary art, and the shifting ways in which they have been imagined and presented. Following an introduction that sets out the historiography and considering questions of terminology, the first part of the book then examines the paradigm of the Musée des Artistes Vivants in Paris and its equivalents in the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century. The second part takes the story forward from 1930 to the present, presenting New York's Museum of Modern Art as a new universal role model that found emulators or 'contramodels' in the rest of the Western world during the twentieth century. An epilogue, reviews recent museum developments in the last decades. Through its adoption of a long-term, worldwide perspective, the book not only provides a narrative of the development of museums of contemporary art, but also sets this into its international perspective. By assessing the extent to which the great museum-capitals - Paris, London and New York in particular - created their own models of museum provision, as well as acknowledging the influence of such models elsewhere, the book uncovers fascinating perspectives on the practice of museum provision, and reveals how present cultural planning initiatives have often been shaped by historical uses.