Museum Studies – An Anthology of Contexts

An indispensable text for teaching museum studies in today's classroom, Museum Studies brings together for the first time a wide array of texts that mix contemporary analysis with classic, historical documentation. Offering encyclopedic coverage of the issues critical to the rise and role of the museum - history and development; relation to society; the ethics of classification, exhibition, and exclusion; the representation of cultures; property and ownership; the poetics of display; material culture and historical documentation; tradition, innovation, and self-reflexivity in museum practice - this is the most comprehensive and ambitious volume available on museum studies.The Anthology opens with an introductory essay that provides vital background and situates museum studies in a truly interdisciplinary context. Each section includes an opening essay that guides the reader through the selections while the volume's bibliography provides a list of resources devoted to museum studies.