Performing the Museum: Memory, Meaning-Making and Identity Production at the National Museum of the American Indian Public
Pullagura, Anni Ankitha (2010)
Published
Abstract
Abstract
Performing the Museum:
Memory, Meaning-Making and Identity Production at the
National Museum of the American Indian
By Anni A. Pullagura
Ethnographic museum studies as a discipline examines processes and
methods
involved in the organization, collection, and installation of
museum exhibitions. As the
museum institution moves into an increasingly globalized world,
however,
frameworks of identity and memory problematize the categories of
"self" and "other"
already challenged in contemporary exhibition scholarship. Central
to these
conversations is the application of new theories in collective
memory-particularly
germane to the development and goals of the museum and
memorialization-and identity
processes vocalized in feminist and race discussions since the
1970s. This thesis argues
that the political ramifications of such conversations are
important factors for theorizing
new futures for ethnographic museums and cultural heritage sites.
Beginning with a
history of museum practice and theory, memory politics, and
performativity and identity
issues in feminist scholarship, this thesis will look at the
Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), established in 1989,
as one example
of the intersection of memory, identity, and new forms of
museology-a "female museum"
that stands as an alternative to historical museological practices.
Of particular
interest will be the museum's institutional history, design, and
fluid, dialogic function
in contemporary identity production. Using this case study, this
thesis aims to explore
the complex processes involved in constructing cultural memorial
sites for the purpose
of opening up dialogues of multiple and informed futures.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Museum History and Theory: The Future of the Cultural
Museum 5
Chapter 2: Memory Processes and the National (Ethnographic) Museum
14
Chapter 3: The Performativity Discourse and the Ethnographic Museum
24
Chapter 4: Case Study: The National Museum of the American Indian
36
Conclusion 77
Bibliography 80
About this Honors Thesis
School | |
---|---|
Department | |
Degree | |
Submission | |
Language |
|
Research Field | |
Mot-clé | |
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
Committee Members |
Primary PDF
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|---|---|---|
|
Performing the Museum: Memory, Meaning-Making and Identity Production at the National Museum of the American Indian () | 2018-08-28 13:38:39 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|