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Apr 25, 2024
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ARTH 356 - The Politics of Display: Race, Class, and Memory in the Museum3 hours
This course provides an in-depth investigation into the theory and practice of museums, especially the moral, ethical, and philosophical choices that inform the methodology of museum 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 and course readings about all types of museums—including science, art, natural history, and ethnographic—we 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. We will pay particular attention to the ethical dilemmas inherent in appropriating objects, particularly those from other cultures, and to the challenges of serving as an educational agent and/or site of national preservation or pride as some museums, monuments, and historic sites do. We will also explore how new technologies have changed museums, particularly with the inclusion of interactive elements, beyond the usual loaded history and controversy inherent in museum labels and wall text.
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