Course ID#: G49.3330
Section: 2
Topics in Museum Studies:
Heritage and Memory in History Museums
Elective. 4 points.

This class will examine the controversial subject of museums that represent heritage, history and memory. Considering cases as diverse as Colonial Williamsburg, Mexican-American heritage museums, Slavery museums in Africa, Holocaust museums, and museums of Native American history, we will seek out common themes and problems that define museum representations of the past. Topics covered will include: authenticity, race, cultural property, cultural brokers, nationalism, interpretation, multivocality, photography, contact zones, context, multiculturalism and community outreach. Our objective will be to examine the connections and distinctions between the theory and practice of exhibiting history and to understand how material culture, social process and historical events converge in the social production of collections and institutions. Our focus will be on museums not merely as containers of history, but as social arenas that influence and determine the politics, value and experience of the past. Accordingly, students will be expected to develop a theoretical toolkit for contextualizing and addressing controversies in the heritage industry.