Course Description Museum 488 Readings in Museology Wendy E. Doyon, Course Instructor Wilson E. O Donnell, Course Director (Instructor of Record) Class meetings: Saturdays 10am-12pm, Denny 312 Office hours: TBA, and by appointment wendy@u.washington.edu This course explores historical and philosophical themes in museology through a review of interdisciplinary literature. Selected readings and class discussions will center on historical and philosophical approaches to museums, and their relationship to professional museology. Themes examined will include the history of various museum types, interdisciplinary perspectives on museum history, philosophical treatments of museum paradigms, and problems in critical/theoretical museology. The course is designed to prepare students of museology for the application of critical thinking skills to their individual research initiatives. Abbreviated Syllabus Week 1: Introduction to course objectives and principles of structural museology Week 2: Approaches to museum history through museum studies Weeks 3-4: Approaches to museum history through anthropology, material culture studies, and Weeks 5-6: Approaches to museum history through architecture, art history, and history Weeks 7-9: Museum philosophies and philosophical problems in museology Week 10: Methods in critical museology Course Requirements Class Participation: Successful participation in this graduate seminar requires active contribution to class discussions based on close review of assigned reading material prior to designated class meetings. Students are expected to demonstrate a commitment to critical thinking processes throughout these seminar discussions. Term Paper: Students are expected to complete a bibliographic review on a selected topic for submission no later than December 2. Presentation: Students are expected to present the findings of their bibliographic review for peer discussion during the final week of class.
Grading Class Participation: 50% Term Paper: 40% See Bibliographic Review Presentation: 10% Final presentations will each consist of a five-minute individual presentation of findings related to the student s selected topic of bibliographic review, followed by group discussion. Bibliographic Review Students should choose one area of critical museum history and theory from among the disciplines reviewed in class (i.e. anthropology, architecture, art history, history, material culture studies, museology,, philosophy), and prepare one of the following two bibliographic options for this term assignment. The selected topic of review must be indicated in the heading to your paper. Note that both of these options assume actual textual review of the materials surveyed. (The assignment may be turned in at any time throughout the quarter, but no later than December 2). Bibliographic Essay: A review in essay format covering the development of museum criticism in the selected discipline, including relevant citations throughout. Citations should highlight recent articles from professional (academic) journals, but should also include other sources (full texts, anthologies, chapters and/or excerpts), where relevant; these should be presented using formal bibliographic conventions. The essay (1.5-spaced; 12pt. Times New Roman font) should be of sufficient length to reflect what you consider an adequate assessment of museum thought in the selected discipline. (For an example of this type of essay, see Part V in T.J. Schlereth (Ed.), Material Culture Studies in America, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1999: 341-352). Annotated Bibliography: A traditional bibliography with annotated remarks covering the development of museum criticism in the selected discipline. Entries should highlight recent articles from professional (academic) journals, but should also include other sources (full texts, anthologies, chapters and/or excerpts), where relevant. The bibliography, and associated textual comments (12pt. Times New Roman font), should reflect what you consider an adequate assessment of museum thought in the selected discipline; and must conform to accepted bibliographic standards.
Readings and Discussion With the exception of A Companion to Museum Studies (Macdonald (Ed.), 2006; available for purchase at the University Bookstore or for photocopy use in the Museology Student Center), readings may be retrieved from electronic reserve with UW Libraries. Readings should be reviewed prior to the meeting under which they are listed. 9/30 Introduction to course objectives and principles of structural museology -Ivo Maroević. Museology as a field of knowledge. ICOM International Committee for Museology, Study Series 8 (5-7). ICOM, 2000. -Peter van Mensch. Museology as a profession. ICOM International Committee for Museology, Study Series 8 (20-21). ICOM, 2000. 10/7 Approaches to museum history through museum studies -Jeffrey Abt. The Origins of the Public Museum. In S. Macdonald (Ed.) A Companion to Museum Studies (115-134). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. -Laurence Vail Coleman. The Museum in America: A Critical Study, Volume One (3-44). Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 1939. -Steven Conn. Museums and the Late Victorian World, Museums and American Intellectual Life, 1876-1926 (3-31). Chicago: UC Press, 1998. -George Brown Goode (1901) in S.G. Kohlstedt (Ed.). Museum-History and Museums of History, The Origins of Natural Science in America: The Essays of George Brown Goode (297-319). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1991. -Sharon Macdonald. Collecting Practices. In S. Macdonald (Ed.) A Companion to Museum Studies (81-97). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 10/14 Approaches to museum history through anthropology, material culture studies, and -Michael Ames. Cannibal Tours, glass boxes and the politics of interpretation. In S.M. Pearce (Ed.), Interpreting Objects and Collections (98-106). London: Routledge, 1994. -Steven M. Beckow. Culture, History, and Artifact. In T.J. Schlereth (Ed.), Material Culture Studies in America (114-123). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1999. -Steven Conn. Between Science and Art: Museums and the Development of Anthropology, Museums and American Intellectual Life, 1876-1926 (75-113). Chicago: UC Press, 1998. -Nélia Dias. The visibility of difference: Nineteenth-century French anthropological collections. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), The Politics of Display: Museums, Science, Culture (36-52). London: Routledge, 1998. -Anthony Alan Shelton. Museums and Anthropologies: Practices and Narratives. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), A Companion to Museum Studies (64-80). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. -Moira Simpson. Cultural Reflections. In D. Preziosi and C. Farago (Eds.), Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (628-636). Hants, England: Ashgate, 2004.
10/21 Approaches to museum history through anthropology, material culture studies, and -Steven W. Allison-Bunnell. Making nature real again: Natural history exhibits and public rhetorics of science at the Smithsonian Institution in the early 1960s. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), The Politics of Display: Museums, Science, Culture (77-97). London: Routledge, 1998. -S.G. Kohlstedt and P. Brinkman. Framing Nature: The Formative Years of Natural History Museum Development in the United States. In A.E. Leviton and M.L. Aldrich (Eds.), Museums and Other Institutions of Natural History: Past, Present, and Future (7-32). California Academy of Sciences, 2004. -Claudia Lazzaro. Animals as Cultural Signs: Collecting Animals in Sixteenth-Century Medici Florence. In D. Preziosi and C. Farago (Eds.), Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (500-526). Hants, England: Ashgate, 2004. -Dorinda Outram. New spaces in. In N. Jardine, et al (Eds.), Cultures of Natural History (249-265). Cambridge University Press, 1996. -Katie Whitaker. The culture of curiosity. In N. Jardine, et al (Eds.), Cultures of Natural History (75-105). Cambridge University Press, 1996. 10/28 Approaches to museum history through architecture, art history, and history -Michaela Giebelhausen. Museum Architecture: A Brief History. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), A Companion to Museum Studies (223-244). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. -Paul Q. Hirst. Power/Knowledge Constructed Space and the Subject. In D. Preziosi and C. Farago (Eds.), Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (380-400). Hants, England: Ashgate, 2004. -Eva Schulz. Notes on the history of collecting and of museums. In S.M. Pearce (Ed.), Interpreting Objects and Collections (175-187). London: Routledge, 1994. -Carla Yanni. Nature s Museums: Victorian Science and the Architecture of Display (1-13; 159-161). New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999/2005. 11/4 Approaches to museum history through architecture, art history, and history -Paula Findlen. The Museum: Its Classical Etymology and Renaissance Genealogy. In D. Preziosi and C. Farago (Eds.), Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (159-190). Hants, England: Ashgate, 2004. -Christoph Grunenberg. The modern art museum. In E. Barker (Ed.), Contemporary Cultures of Display (26-49). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. -Francois Hartog. Time and Heritage. Museum International, 57.3: 7-18. UNESCO: 2005. -Donald Preziosi. The Museum of What You Shall Have Been, Brain of the Earth s Body: Art, Museums, and the Phantasms of Modernity (116-136). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. -Donald Preziosi. Art History and Museology: Rendering the Visible Legible. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), A Companion to Museum Studies (50-63). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
11/11 Museum philosophies and philosophical problems in museology -Tristram Besterman. Museum Ethics. In S. Macdonald (Ed.), A Companion to Museum Studies (431-441). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. -Hugh H. Genoways. To Members of the Museum Profession. In H.H. Genoways (Ed.), Museum Philosophy for the Twenty-first Century (221-234). Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006. -Donald Preziosi. Philosophy and the Ends of the Museum. In H.H. Genoways (Ed.), Museum Philosophy for the Twenty-first Century (69-78). Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006. 11/18 Museum philosophies and philosophical problems in museology -Tony Bennett. The Political Rationality of the Museum; and Art and Theory: The politics of the invisible, The Birth of the Museum: history, theory, politics (89-105; 163-173). London: Routledge, 1995. -Joshua Decter. Synergy-Museum. In P. Noever (Ed.), The discursive museum (83-97). Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001. -Eilean Hooper-Greenhill. Objects and interpretive processes, Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (103-123). New York: Routledge, 2000. -Bernice Murphy. Memory, History and Museums. Museum International, 57.3: 70-78. UNESCO: 2005. 11/25 Museum philosophies and philosophical problems in museology -Mieke Bal. The Discourse of the Museum. In R. Greenberg, et al (Eds.), Thinking about Exhibitions (201-218). London: Routledge, 1996. -Michel Foucault. Texts/Contexts: Of Other Spaces. In D. Preziosi and C. Farago (Eds.), Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (371-379). Hants, England: Ashgate, 2004. -Ludmilla Jordanova. Objects of Knowledge: A Historical Perspective on Museums. In P. Vergo (Ed.), The New Museology (22-40). London: Reaktion Books, 1989. -Peter van Mensch. Significance: The functional identity of artefacts, Towards a methodology of museology (n.pag.). Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Zagreb, 1992. 12/2 Methods in critical museology -Peter van Mensch. Purpose of understanding, Towards a methodology of museology (n.pag.). Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Zagreb, 1992. -Peter van Mensch. Towards a methodology, Towards a methodology of museology (n.pag.). Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Zagreb, 1992. 12/9* Student presentations *Date may be changed