ENGAGING WITH PASTS IN THE PRESENT: Curators, Communities, and Exhibition Practice

Abstract

Arising from a one‐day symposium entitled “Ancient and Modern: Exhibiting the Past in the Present” at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, the theme for this special issue of Museum Anthropology focuses on contemporary museum practice. The contributors are specifically interested in the challenges of exhibiting “pasts” in the “present” while doing justice to the historical and modern peoples and cultures represented in exhibitions. The authors also explore related ideas about collaboration with source communities and how collecting practices have determined what is considered valuable and thus worthy of display in public museums.

Μουσείο, Λογοτεχνία Και Εκπαίδευση: Ενδεικτικά Παραδείγματα Από Ελλάδα Και Γερμανία

“…Αυτό συνδέεται άμεσα με τον επαναπροσδιορισμό της θέσης του μουσείου μέσα σε ένα παγκοσμιοποιημένο και πλουραλιστικό περιβάλλον (Phillips, 2003). Τα μουσεία, λοιπόν, στοχεύουν στη δημιουργία συμμετοχικών εμπειριών 3 , επικεντρώνοντας το ενδιαφέρον τους όχι αποκλειστικά στην έκθεση των συλλογών τους, αλλά, όπως ήδη ειπώθηκε, και στον επισκέπτη, συνιστώντας μέρη ενός πολιτισμικού μωσαϊκού (Falk & Dierking, 1998 (Scott, 2012) και εφαρμόζεται στην οργάνωση και την υλοποίηση των εκπαιδευτικών τους προγραμμάτων, όπως περιγράφεται στο επόμενο κεφάλαιο.…”

Devil in The Digital: Ambivalent Results in an Object‐Based Teaching Course

“…While we all know that digital tools are neither objective nor value neutral, the digital turn can facilitate the “formation of relationships of trust and cooperation, rather than those of exclusion or superiority” (Scott :2). The digital can provide us with a platform to reassemble the analog; it allows us to explore new forms of collaboration and teaching that might be more creative, more subversive, and more equitable.…”

Crafting, Community, and Collaboration: Reflections on the Ethnographic Sala Project at the Pukara Lithic Museum, Peru

“…Fortunately, theorizing “collaboration” has gained serious momentum as archaeologists work more closely with descendant communities and other stakeholders in the formulation of research designs, project execution, and the interpretation of data (e.g., Colwell‐Chanthaphonh and Ferguson ; La Salle ; Silliman and Ferguson ; see also Aas et al. ; Meskell and Sibongile Van Damme in the heritage field; Schultz and Scott in museum anthropology). In fact, Chip Colwell‐Chanthaphonh and T. J. Ferguson provide a framework for characterizing such endeavors within archaeological practice:

we see that collaboration in practice exists on a continuum, from merely communicating research to descendant communities to a genuine synergy where the contributions of community members and scholars create a positive result that could not be achieved without joining efforts.

…”