Performing the Museum: Memory, Meaning-Making and Identity Production at the National Museum of the American Indian 公开

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

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School	Emory College
Department	Art History
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Native American Studies Women's Studies Museology
关键词	museum history memory politics indigenous cultures cultural heritage sites museum theory identity performativity National Museum of the American Indian ethnographic museums
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Stone, Rebecca Rollins, Emory University
Committee Members	Amdur, Kathryn E, Emory University Wilson, Elizabeth, Emory University

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