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Apr 29, 2024
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ARTH 356 - The Politics of Display: Race, Class, and Memory in the Museum 3 hours
Museums are interpreters of objects and events, which means that they have an important community role and immense power to influence culture and society. This course provides an in-depth investigation into the theory and practice of museums, especially the moral, ethical, and philosophical choices that inform their methodologies of collection and display. From the beginning of the modern museum, which evolved from “curiosity cabinets” and private assortments of objects of random or personal interest, to historical monuments and sites of memory, this course surveys museum history to examine how the museum’s function has changed over time and across boundaries. Through case studies, primarily of science, art, natural history, and ethnographic museums and their histories, students will contextualize the trends that have influenced the museum’s organizational structures, outreach, and collection strategies, as well as its changing role and relationship to its public. Particular attention is paid to the ethical dilemmas inherent in appropriating objects, particularly those from “other” cultures, and the challenges of serving as an educational agent and/or site of national preservation or pride as some museums, monuments, and historic sites do. This course is intended as a continuation of ARTH 355 - Museum Studies , but that course is not a prerequisite, and need not be taken in order.
This course will satisfy the core area requirement in fine arts.
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