Art History 210: Museums and The Politics of Display

This course is designed to introduce students to the museum as a social institution that produces value, organizes material culture, and structures knowledge. An exploration of the ways in which museum display can augment and/or alter the meanings and functions of objects will be central to the class. Students will examine the birth of the museum in 18th century Europe as a product of Enlightenment values and imperial ambitions. Using historical and contemporary examples from Britain, France, and the United States, students will research and critique shifting collecting and exhibition philosophies. The class will explore the following topics (and more) as they relate to the rhetoric of display: identity formation, race and gender politics, memory and history, ethnography and social taxonomy, "non-Western" art in Western museums, repatriation of objects, sacred art in secular spaces, narrative constructions and claims of historical veracity, and the modern encyclopedic museum. The course is based on student presentations and discussion, with various written assignments and/or exams. Multiple field trips are required to complete the course. These will take place outside of class time, and may be scheduled either during the week or on Fridays and/or Saturdays.