Anthropology 331 - Museums and Reality

Institution:

Reed College

Subject:

Description:

Full course for one semester. This course will explore how reality is constructed, particularly through museums, historically related material forms such as world fairs and department stores, and their associated linguistic practices. Two senses of "constructed" are relevant here: firstly, the course will base itself on the social science insight that reality is construed through cultural categories and discursive practices; secondly, the course will explore the specific processes through which exhibits, built environments, and concrete models are constructed (and inhabited with an awareness of their constructed nature). Two senses of "reality" are also at play here: on the one hand, museums and related genres are commonly understood as factual, as representing what actually exists; on the other hand, certain actually existing phenomena are often construed as more "real" or more "authentic" than others: as genuine historic or exotic artifacts, or as instantiating scientific or industrial principles, or in other ways connected to a realm believed to be at once generative of and obscured by our everyday experience. The course will examine how museum exhibit creators, staff, and visitors draw on and underwrite such differential attributions of authenticity. Prerequisite: Anthropology 211. Not offered 2009-10.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.reed.edu

Phone Number:

(503) 771-1112

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Semester

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