Transforming Museums: Mounting Queen Victoria in a Democratic South Africa

ISBN-13: 9781403974112 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 341 str.

Steven C. Dubin

Opis

South African society has been refashioned since the first open elections were held in 1994; if democracy is the theory then transformation is the practice. This is apparent in the nation's museums, where collection and exhibition policies, staffs and audiences have been changed in fundamental ways. Such changes have impacted the range of these institutions, including those focusing on art, natural history and science, cultural history, local events, and military matters. Steven C. Dubin examines the various strategies museums have adopted to shed their former ideological biases and become more inclusive. This book also notes that in this process, museums have developed into lively centers of debate--noisy democratic forums recovering the past and generating fresh information, seasoned with a dash of controversy.

Recenzje

'Dubin has collected a vital series of interviews which, in full, are a highly significant archive of historical and museological thinking in this transitionary period.' - Institute of Historical Research

Spis treści

Using War to Put Food on the Table: Reflections on a Decade of Democracy A White Step in a Black Direction: Inertia, Breakthrough and Change in South African Museums The First Shall Be Last: Picturing Indigenous Peoples and the Sins of Long Ago Prisoners to Science: Sarah Bartmann and "Others" "A Pustular Sore on a Queen's Forehead": District Six and the Politics of the Past "The History of Our Future": Revamping Edifices of a Bygone Era Tête-à-tête: Museums and Monuments, Conversations and Soliloquies

O autorze

STEVEN C. DUBIN is Professor of Arts Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, USA.