HIST 435 - Museums: A Social, Political, and Institutional History

FC SSCI

4 credits
This class explores the origins, evolution, and function of many different types of museums from the 18th to the 21st centuries. From the first natural history museums, which reflected the Enlightenment era’s impulse towards hierarchical categorization, to the new 21st-century “memorial museums,” which seek to commemorate past violence in order to help build a better future, museums have viewed themselves as playing an important cultural and political role in their societies. As a class, we will explore the creation and evolution of many different kinds of museum, the relationship between museums and modernity, and the ways in which museum practices have changed over time. How, we will ask, have museums been colonial institutions and how might be they be decolonized? What role have museums played in legitimizing the nation? How have movements to build alternative museums sought to challenge dominant cultural and political narratives? As we study–and visit–art museums, science museums, natural history, and history museums, we will consider the many ways in which museums produce and structure knowledge. Weekend field trips required.