Ethnomuseology is the study of

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

s and museum curation in the context of the culture and cultural traditions of its collections. It is an interdisciplinary field combining

museum studies Museology or museum studies is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and education. Terminology The w ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

, ethnography, and often various fine arts.

Overview

As stated by Moira Simpson, "Ethnomuseology is the field of scholarship concerning culturally appropriate museum curation and conservation of ethnographic materials using methods that reflect social, cultural, spiritual, or religious aspects of objects." A museum subscribing the principles of ethnomuseology will often maintain and present artifacts and collections in the traditional manner of their ethnological origins, combining the museum with the rituals and community of its theme. This can be in addition to conventional Western museum practices, which often focuses on object materiality. As well, ethnomuseology often involves a continued dialog between museum administrators and members of represented cultures in collections. The ''Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology'' considers ethnomuseology to be a "more holistic" approach to

heritage interpretation Heritage interpretation refers to all the ways in which information is communicated to visitors to an educational, natural or recreational site, such as a museum, park or science centre. More specifically it is the communication of information ...

History

The term "ethnomuseology" is first seen in Romania and Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, where it described the use of artifacts from rural life to " rovideevidence of authentic forms of culture". A variant, "etnomuseologia", was used in 1994 by the Romanian anthropologist Bert G. Ribeiro to describe the work of the

Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi The Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) is a Brazilian research institution and museum located in the city of Belém, state of Pará, Brazil. It was founded in 1866 by Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna as the Pará Museum of Natural History and Ethn ...

in Belem, Brazil. In Belem, curators had been working directly with Amazonian Indians in a continued dialog to create exhibits informed by the very culture they documented. Today, a number of museums are considered to be followers the ethnomuseological method, including the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, the Alutiiq Museum in

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak ( Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

, and the Department of Ethnology at the

Museum of Macedonia The Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia ( mk, Музеј на Република Северна Македонија, translit=Muzej na Republika Severna Makedonija), formerly and still unofficially known as the Museum of Macedonia ( mk, М� ...

Skopje, Macedonia Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; ...

. Since 2008,

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...

in Brno, Czech Republic has offered a course in ethnomuseology titled "MUII165 Practice in museology and ethnography"."MUII165 Practice in museology and ethnography"

Citations

References

* * * * * * {{Ethnicity Museology Museum education Anthropology Ethnography

Overview

History

See also

Citations

References