Museum collections are often perceived as static entities hidden away in storerooms or trapped behind glass cases. By focusing on the dynamic histories of museum collections, new research reveals their pivotal role in shaping a wide range of social relations. Over time and across space the interactions between these artefacts and the people and institutions who made, traded, collected, researched and exhibited them have generated complex networks of material and social agency.
In this innovative volume, the contributors draw on a broad range of source materials to explore the cross-cultural interactions which have created museum collections. These case studies contribute significantly to the development of new theoretical frameworks to examine broader questions of materiality, agency, and identity in the past and present.
Grounded in case studies from individual objects and museum collections from North America, Europe, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, this truly international volume juxtaposes historical, geographical, and cross-cultural studies.
This work will be of great interest to archaeologists and anthropologists studying material culture, as well as researchers in museum studies and cultural heritage management.
| ISBN: | 9781441982216 |
| Publication date: | 27th June 2011 |
| Author: | Sarah Byrne, Anne Clarke, Rodney Harrison, Robin Torrence |
| Publisher: | Springer an imprint of Springer New York |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 342 pages |
| Series: | One World Archaeology |
| Genres: |
Archaeology Cultural studies Sociology Museology and heritage studies |
Museum collections are often perceived as static entities hidden away in storerooms or trapped behind glass cases. By focusing on the dynamic histories of museum collections, new research reveals their pivotal role in shaping a wide range of social relations. Over time and across space the interactions between these artefacts and the people and institutions who made, traded, collected, researched and exhibited them have generated complex networks of material and social agency.
In this innovative volume, the contributors draw on a broad range of source materials to explore the cross-cultural interactions which have created museum collections. These case studies contribute significantly to the development of new theoretical frameworks to examine broader questions of materiality, agency, and identity in the past and present.
Grounded in case studies from individual objects and museum collections from North America, Europe, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, this truly international volume juxtaposes historical, geographical, and cross-cultural studies.
This work will be of great interest to archaeologists and anthropologists studying material culture, as well as researchers in museum studies and cultural heritage management.
Unpacking the Collection features in the following genres: Archaeology, Cultural studies, Sociology, Museology and heritage studies
Unpacking the Collection is available in Hardback
Unpacking the Collection was written by Sarah Byrne, Anne Clarke, Rodney Harrison, Robin Torrence and published by Springer an imprint of Springer New York
Unpacking the Collection has 342 pages
Yes it is part of One World Archaeology series