AANA18111U Material and Visual Culture: Critical and practical anthropological approaches to museums and heritage

Although anthropology deals with material, visual and practical dimensions of life, its academic products are mostly texts – but what happens if anthropology produces products more in line with anthropologists study as embodied researchers? One fast-growing field where anthropologists increasingly develop their scholarship, find employment and reach out to wider audiences is museums and heritage sites. At present, more and more anthropologists are employed at museums and heritage sites, which in the present times of cultural complexity have an increasing demand for the critical theoretical approaches offered by anthropologists. But that demand is for anthropologists who know how to translate their ethnographic methods and critical insights into non-textual or semi-textual formats, like exhibitions based on material objects, panels, exhibition books and flyers, videos, podcasts, etc. And all too often, however, anthropology graduates are held back by the impression that museums and heritage sites are stale and/or old-fashioned, and hence unworthy of their intellectual endeavor; but a less than up-to-date museum exhibit or heritage complex could constitute an opportunity for critical, practical and visual input by anthropologists.

In this course students will learn both aspects of the anthropology of museums and heritage:

1. Students will learn about the critical anthropological approaches through a cross-reading of contemporary work within the anthropology of museums and heritage, in connection with neighboring disciplines (history, cultural studies) and with social science classics, like Debord, Durkheim, Halbwachs and Hobsbawm. The outcome will be a firm grounding in the critical theoretical literature on museums and heritage.
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3. Students will learn about the practical aspects of museum and heritage work through small field research projects and through (or: in combination with) small internships at museums or heritage sites. The outcomes of these practical engagements would be in formats that could be useful for the sites where the research and internships take place, e.g. small-scale basic museum or heritage research, an exhibition text, a small video, a podcast. This would be negotiated with the museum or heritage site, and would form part of the portfolio. The outcome would be knowledge of the various skills and competencies as well as of the various formats needed for effective museum and heritage work.
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5. Students will learn the basics about visual culture and visual anthropology through a short crash course by a trained and accomplished visual anthropologist.

Eventually, this course might prepare interested students for MA research in and on museums or heritage sites, and potentially prepare for their Master's Thesis.