Introduction to the Museum: Issues and Ideas

3 Credits.

American museums today face ongoing practical, political and ethical challenges, including economic difficulties, technology and globalization, ongoing debates over the ownership and interpretation of culture and pressure to demonstrate their social value. This course considers how museums are answering these challenges and projects into the future. In addition to class discussions and group work, we will visit a number of different cultural institutions to discuss best practices in interpretation, how culture is represented in a variety of manners, the history of collection acquisition, analyze visitor experiences, how sites approach advocacy and civic engagement, among other topics related to the weekly readings.