Science, Magic and Religion

The Ritual Processes of Museum Magic

Buch | Softcover

288 Seiten

2006
Berghahn Books, Incorporated (Verlag)
978-1-57181-521-7 (ISBN)

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Museums have been recognized as important institutions of western cultural and social life. This volume explores a range of contemporary museums in Europe and Africa. The case studies examine the different ways in which various actors involved in cultural production dramatize and ritualize such sites.

For some time now, museums have been recognized as important institutions of western cultural and social life. The idea of the museum as a ritual site is fairly new and has been applied to the art museums in Europe and the United States so far. This volume expands it by exploring a range of contemporary museums in Europe and Africa. The case studies examine the different ways in which various actors involved in cultural production dramatize and ritualize such sites. It turns out that not only museum specialists, but visitors themselves are engaged in complex performances and experiences that make use of museums in often unexpected ways.

Mary Bouquet teaches Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies at Utrecht University College. Her recent publications include Academic Anthropology and the Museum, also published by Berghahn Books (2001).

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Science, Magic and Religion: the Ritual Processes of Museum Magic

Mary Bouquet and Nuno Porto

PART I: OBJECTS OF SCIENCE? BABY AND THE MUMMIES

Chapter 1. Memorialising the Future: the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

Penelope Harvey

Chapter 2. Unwrapping Mummies and Telling their Stories: Egyptian Mummies in Museum Rhetoric

Anna Wieczorkiewicz

PART II: SITE SPECIFICS: THE CASE OF TERVUREN

Chapter 3. Congo-Vision

Barbara Saunders

Chapter 4. The Scourge of Chief Kansabala: the Ritual Life of Two Congolese Masterpieces at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (1884-2001)

Boris Wastiau

PART III: ENCOUNTERS, PERFORMANCES AND UNPREDICTABLES

Chapter 5. Paradise in the Making at Artis Zoo, Amsterdam

Natasha Silva

Chapter 6. The Natural Magic of Monte San Giovanni: Authority, Authenticity and Ritual in Sardinia

Tracey Heatherington

Chapter 7. The Performance of Heritage in a Reconstructed, Post-Apartheid Museum in Namibia

Ian Fairweather

Chapter 8. Haunted Art: Visiting an Exhibit in Weimar

Barbara Wolbert

PART IV: DILEMMAS OF ENCHANTMENT

Chapter 9. Enchantment and its Dilemmas: the Museum as a Ritual Site

Sharon Macdonald

Notes on Contributors

Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	18.5.2006
Reihe/Serie	New Directions in Anthropology
Verlagsort	Herndon
Sprache	englisch
Gewicht	345 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Hilfswissenschaften
ISBN-10	1-57181-521-X / 157181521X
ISBN-13	978-1-57181-521-7 / 9781571815217
Zustand	Neuware