Museums and Museology

The module is designed to equip students with a broad range of theoretical and practical approaches to the study of museums.

It examines the strategies and practices by which museums interpret, organise and display objects – especially non-Western objects – within diverse cultural contexts. It analyses the meanings produced via architecture, space, and display, and explores key issues in relation to museums and sacred art, gender, emerging forms of digital curating and museology, colonialism, and decolonisation.

Objectives and learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students will have

• Used a range of investigative tools and approaches with which to analyse theory and practice in museums.
• Gained theoretical and practical knowledge of the interpretation of a range of museum objects.
• Applied key concepts in museological theory to the critical analysis of displays.
• Examined some of the key issues and debates in museology.

Method of assessment

• 750-word review (worth 20% of marks)
• 1,500-word essay (worth 30%)
• Exam (worth 50% )

Suggested reading

• Bennett, Tony (1995). The birth of the museum: history, theory, politics. London: Routledge.
• Bouquet, Mary (ed.) (2001). Academic Anthropology and the Museum: Back to the Future. Berghahn Books: Oxford and New York.
• Duncan, Carol (1995). Civilizing rituals: inside public art museums. London: Routledge.
• Greenberg, Ferguson and Nairne, Sandy (eds.) (1996). Thinking about exhibitions . London: Routledge.
• Marstine, Janet (Ed.). (2010). New museum theory and practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules.