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Abstract
For some time now, museums have been recognized as important institutions of western cultural and social life. The idea of the museum as a ritual site is fairly new and has been applied to the art museums in Europe and the United States so far. This volume expands it by exploring a range of contemporary museums in Europe and Africa. The case studies examine the different ways in which various actors involved in cultural production dramatize and ritualize such sites. It turns out that not only museum specialists, but visitors themselves are engaged in complex performances and experiences that make use of museums in often unexpected ways.
Nuno Porto is Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, University of Coimbra, where he teaches museology, material culture, and the history of anthropology.
Mary Bouquet teaches Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies at Utrecht University College. Her recent publications include Academic Anthropology and the Museum, also published by Berghahn Books (2001).
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series Page | ii | ||
| Title Page | iii | ||
| Copyright Page | iv | ||
| Table of Contents | v | ||
| List of Figures | vii | ||
| Acknowledgements | xi | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| Part I: Objects of Science? Baby and the Mummies | 27 | ||
| Chapter 1: Memorialising the Future- The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester | 29 | ||
| Chapter 2: Unwrapping Mummies and Telling their Stories: Eqyptian Mummies in Museum Rhetoric | 51 | ||
| Part II: Site Specifics: The Case of Tervuren | 73 | ||
| Chapter 3: Congo-Vision | 75 | ||
| Chapter 4: The Scourge of Chief Kansabala: The Ritual Life of Two Congolese Masterpieces at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (1884-2001) | 95 | ||
| Part III: Encounters, Performances and Unpredictables | 117 | ||
| Chapter 5: Paradise in the Making at Artis Zoo, Amsterdam | 119 | ||
| Chapter 6: The Natural Magic of Monte San Giovanni: Authority, Authenticity and Ritual in Sardinia | 141 | ||
| Chapter 7: The Performance of Heritage in a Reconstructed, Post-Apartheid Museum in Namibia | 161 | ||
| Chapter 8: Haunted Art: Visiting an Exhibit in Weimar | 182 | ||
| Part IV: Dilemmas of Enchantment | 207 | ||
| Chapter 9: Enhancement and its Dilemmas: The Museum as a Ritual Site | 209 | ||
| Notes on Contributors | 229 | ||
| Index | 233 |