Museumercanary: a title fitting for Borys Malkin (1917-2009), owing to the dualistic nature of his occupation: on one side he is remembered as an anthropologist, who for 40 years (1960s-90s)...Show moreMuseumercanary: a title fitting for Borys Malkin (1917-2009), owing to the dualistic nature of his occupation: on one side he is remembered as an anthropologist, who for 40 years (1960s-90s) conducted fieldwork amongst over 46 Indigenous groups in South America. On the other side, however, he was a full-time private collector, dealer, and smuggler of Indigenous material culture, who sold ethnographic (and some archaeological) collections to more than 40 museums in Europe and North America. In this thesis, I investigate Malkin’s work process in both of his occupations, in order to establish his true motivations and intentions for creating and selling Indigenous South American collections. I do so through a combination of literature review and archival research, involving the analysis of Malkin’s private correspondences with 8 of his museum clients. His letters not only contain his stories from collecting in the field, full of his personal views, opinions and commentary on Indigenous life and culture and South American politics, but also his collection documentation and invoices. The two museums, which corresponded with Malkin the most, were the Museum of Cultures in Basel (Switzerland) and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York (USA). While Malkin’s interest in Indigenous material culture was mostly financial, his methods of collecting and documenting material culture influenced the way Indigenous South American people were perceived by both Western scholars and the public. Therefore, it is important to uncover the details of his oeuvre and add them to our knowledge of the history of displacement of Indigenous material culture and its transformation into museum collections. Most importantly, we must make that history available to the Indigenous, and allow them to be reunited with knowledge about their own objects, lost to them due to the activities of collectors and dealers, such as Borys Malkin.Show less
In this thesis, I will attempt to balance the state of existing research on local representations of colonial heritage in Canada by examining how and to what extent museums, as cultural...Show moreIn this thesis, I will attempt to balance the state of existing research on local representations of colonial heritage in Canada by examining how and to what extent museums, as cultural institutions, legitimize connections to place and identity amongst majority group communities that exist by way of colonial appropriation and assertion over Indigenous people's rights to land and culture. Utilizing my background as a Canadian settler, I analyze how cultural identity and colonial values are preserved within three separate municipal museums in the region of “Muskoka, Ontario” where I grew up by documenting the contents and overarching narratives I encountered in my visits to each of them. I argue that municipal museums in Muskoka communicate historical narratives that reaffirm the objectives of settler colonialism in Canada, namely by constructing and legitimizing community cultural identities that omit wrongdoing in historical injustices and ongoing expropriation of Indigenous lands. I believe that examining how settler identities are fabricated to ignore colonial oppression at a community scale can help to unravel the issues inherent within a larger system of governance that relies on legitimizing duplicitous histories to maintain control over resources and populations.Show less
A nation’s identity builds on a common past and traditions. After the Second World War, the newborn government of the GDR had to make a concerted effort to create such traditions, building on the...Show moreA nation’s identity builds on a common past and traditions. After the Second World War, the newborn government of the GDR had to make a concerted effort to create such traditions, building on the history of the German working class and their leading historical figures. Among them: Clara Zetkin. A dedicated and respected politician in her time, she was made an icon in the GDR, as she was portrayed as an ideal socialist role model and heroine throughout the public sphere, by means of the memory politics of the SED. The biographies, newspaper articles, films, and museums focused on Zetkin, as well as the street signs, statues, banknotes, and awards bearing her name in the GDR created a particular image of the historical figure: a model socialist heroine. This image differs from the historical figure of Zetkin, as some parts have been emphasized, others downplayed, or left out entirely.Show less
Painting descriptions can aid children’s learning and development in museums. Previous research has shown that painting descriptions can influence people’s visual attention towards paintings and...Show morePainting descriptions can aid children’s learning and development in museums. Previous research has shown that painting descriptions can influence people’s visual attention towards paintings and possibly their aesthetic appreciation, which are both important for the perception of art. However, little is known about the effects of painting descriptions when specifically tailored to children’s level of understanding and development. Therefore, this research investigated the question: “How do tailored painting descriptions impact children’s visual attention and aesthetic appreciation of art?”. Compared to receiving no (tailored) painting descriptions, it was expected that children show increased visual attention towards paintings after receiving a tailored painting description and that they would show a difference in their visual exploration and aesthetic appreciation of the paintings. An ecological experiment was conducted at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with 62 children aged 10-12. The children were asked to view three different paintings. Before viewing these paintings, the children either received a painting description tailored to children (child description condition, CDC), a painting description written for adults (adult description condition, ADC), or no painting description (free viewing condition, FVC). Their visual attention towards the paintings was measured using a wearable eye-tracker. Their aesthetic appreciation was measured using an adapted version of the AESTHEMOS questionnaire. Both statistical and qualitative analyses were used to investigate differences in visual attention and aesthetic appreciation between the conditions. Results showed that children in the CDC displayed more visual attention towards areas mentioned in the descriptions compared to ADC and FVC. There was no significant difference in children’s visual attention between the ADC and FVC. Also, children in the CDC showed slightly decreased visual exploration of the paintings. Lastly, no results were found regarding the effects of painting descriptions on children’s aesthetic appreciation. The findings underline the effectiveness of tailoring information to children’s level of understanding and development in influencing their visual attention. Also, it suggests that giving more complicated information written for adults might be just as ineffective as giving no information at all. Museum educators can apply this knowledge to further improve children’s learning in museums and the overall museum experience. The effects of tailored information for children may also be studied to improve children’s engagement and understanding of information in other settings, such as general education or healthcare, or when providing safety information. Lastly, these results strengthen the body of evidence for understanding children’s visual attention in real-world settings.Show less
Roughly from the beginning of the common era and the late fourth century, the area that now makes up the Netherlands functioned as a frontier zone of the Roman Empire. Its border was the Rhine,...Show moreRoughly from the beginning of the common era and the late fourth century, the area that now makes up the Netherlands functioned as a frontier zone of the Roman Empire. Its border was the Rhine, with the South of the river the territories under Roman rule, while the area to the North was part of an area called Germania by the Romans. The current North-Western Netherlands, consisting of the provinces of Noord-Holland, Friesland and partly Groningen, was the living area of a Germanic people or tribe named the Frisii. For a long time, local peoples at the borders of the Roman Empire have been regarded as a matter of secondary importance in not only the archaeology of the Roman Period but also in the museum context. While various reasoning lay at the basis of this, a crucial factor is the early 19th century concept of romanisation, which disregarded autonomy, authority, and self-identification of those who have been ascribed to the Germanic peoples over ‘being Roman’. In this thesis, as a focused case in the context of the previously mentioned, an exploration is made of the representation of the Frisii. Two questions stand central in this: ▪ How are the Frisii represented in museums in the North-Western Netherlands? ▪ Why are the Frisii (not) represented? These main research questions are subsequently divided into a set of sub-questions, focussing on various aspects of the representations. The study was conducted by analysing three different museums: The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO) in Leiden, Huis van Hilde museum (HvH) in Castricum, and Archeologisch Museum Baduhenna (AMB) in Heiloo. As the living area of the Frisii has been ascribed to both the western and northern Netherlands and the study focuses on the western area, the Fries Museum (FM) in Leeuwarden was chosen as a comparative case study location. These locations were subjected to a thorough investigation, consisting of exhibition and (online) content analyses. Literature research on the background contexts and interviews with professionals from some of the organisations were conducted additionally. The reasoning for the latter was to better understand the motives behind (not)representing the Frisii and the here for chosen methods. As the study indicated, the representation of the Frisii at these locations varied in presentation methods and communicated narratives, underlining different approaches to Roman history, including Roman-centred, presented perspectives versus more autonomous ones. Various motives to represent the Frisii were identified, including the formation of regional identity and the substantiation of national history frames. In this, various forms of archaeological representations, didactic and non-didactic, are used to bring forth the presented narratives. In addition to these (re)presentations, a disarray of terminology was identified and discussed. This study explores all the issues previously mentioned and hopes to create a starting point for critically analysing the representation of local or ‘Germanic’ peoples in the Dutch Museum context, working towards the (re)presentation of a more inclusive Roman history of the Netherlands to the museum public.Show less
Touch and interactivity is becoming increasingly popular in museums countering decades of traditional museum styles and creating new ways to experience culture. This paper examines five cultural...Show moreTouch and interactivity is becoming increasingly popular in museums countering decades of traditional museum styles and creating new ways to experience culture. This paper examines five cultural heritage institutions in the Netherlands and specifically focuses on the use of handling and interactivity with collection and display objects for the general public. Niel Kotler's 2004 article "New ways of experiencing culture: the role of museums and marketing" provides the basis for the ideas on where museums fit into a cultural framework and the importance of experience for education. By exploring this idea this paper answers questions about what modern museums and collections are doing to meet the growing public demand and general necessity of increased accessibility to and understanding of objects with importance to cultural heritage. How these methods for allowing touch and interactivity contribute to the learning and understanding of participants about the objects and their cultural importance is one of the main focuses. Each institution is discussed thoroughly under a division of themes between how handling is introduced through an educational lens and an exhibition lens. The paper concludes that museums are far more open to interactivity with collection objects than is often assumed by both museum studies and by the public. A positive outlook is concluded on behalf of the efforts which provides an understanding of the importance of the work being done to increase public knowledge and understanding of historical and cultural objects through the ability to handle and closely interact with objects. These efforts will be essential for the continued preservation of objects as well as technqiues, stories, cultures, and histories for years to come.Show less
This thesis questions the representation of the Dutch West- and East-Indies slavery pasts in current museum exhibitions. What is on display? Whose stories are told? Whose voices are silenced? Which...Show moreThis thesis questions the representation of the Dutch West- and East-Indies slavery pasts in current museum exhibitions. What is on display? Whose stories are told? Whose voices are silenced? Which sources could be added to create more critical and multi-perspective museum narratives?Show less
Social media holds promise for museums to enhance visitor participation, engagement with potential visitors via participatory communication and in building an online community to which to refer to....Show moreSocial media holds promise for museums to enhance visitor participation, engagement with potential visitors via participatory communication and in building an online community to which to refer to. However, the integration of social media within museums practices, particularly in Italy, has been a rather cautious transition as museums are concerned with the ways social media may deteriorate traditional organizational forms of authority that cultural institutions have held. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the extent to which Italian museums can use social media to engage with a younger audience. In doing so, this study has conducted a case study analysis of Musei Civici Veneziani, by interviewing the web-content manager of the institution. Findings demonstrate that Musei Civici Veneziani continues to use a one-to-one communication model, whereby social media platforms are used solely to inform users about practical matters. The use of a one-to-one communication model, rather than a many-to-many one by Musei Civici Veneziani is due to fear of jeopardizing their role as a cultural authority. However, the present paper aims to showcase the opportunities of adopting a peer-to-peer participatory communication model as a way to effectively engage with younger audiences which allows them to become active members within the museum.Show less
This thesis explores the recent success of the severely under-analysed notion of transhistoricity in contemporary curatorial practice. Up until now, the phenomenon was characterized as either a...Show moreThis thesis explores the recent success of the severely under-analysed notion of transhistoricity in contemporary curatorial practice. Up until now, the phenomenon was characterized as either a clever marketing strategy or a substantial ideology-critical instrument. In this thesis, both perspectives are highlighted in order to clarify the notion of contemporary transhistorical curating and to extend and enrich the existing academic discourse on this notion. This thesis can be seen as a first attempt to distinguish the ways in which the concept is used and to make explicit what needs the concept meets.Show less
This thesis touches upon the representation of the Maori within three different museums. One in the Netherlands, one in the United Kingdom and one in New Zealand. It discusses the presentation of...Show moreThis thesis touches upon the representation of the Maori within three different museums. One in the Netherlands, one in the United Kingdom and one in New Zealand. It discusses the presentation of the Maori through objects and how this reflects how the Maori are presented by these three museums using rhetoric within their displays. In this discussion the theory of the post-museum is added. This reflects upon if the museums are forward thinking in their presentation, but also behind the scenes.Show less
South Korea had started the official commemoration of certain parts of the Japanese occupation period as early as 1949, four year after the liberation of 1945. While certain parts of the occupation...Show moreSouth Korea had started the official commemoration of certain parts of the Japanese occupation period as early as 1949, four year after the liberation of 1945. While certain parts of the occupation period are commemorated, others are left out. In order to gain insight with regard to how the topic of the occupation period is generally portrayed in South Korea, the author has researched how the Japanese occupation period is presented in South Korean museums specifically by using three case studies: the Seoul Museum of History, the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History and Seodaemun Prison History Hall. Within these museums the author specifically focused on the information panels that these museums displayed in their exhibitions, as well as information presented in the museums’ brochures and official websites. In examining these three collections, with a specific focus on the display of ‘text’, the author attempts to answer the question: “What can the portrayal of texts included in museum exhibitions on the occupation period teach us about the way this period is presented in South Korea?”Show less
The Meiji Period of Japanese history (1868 - 1912) is considered a pivotal time for the development of the modern Japanese nation, and is marked by the introduction of innumerable elements and...Show moreThe Meiji Period of Japanese history (1868 - 1912) is considered a pivotal time for the development of the modern Japanese nation, and is marked by the introduction of innumerable elements and institutions from the West, as well as by a strong focus on domestic culture, traditions, and artistic productions. Among others, the institution of the "museum", as perceived in Europe and North America, was introduced to Japan in this period. This thesis explores the relationship between the newly established Japanese museums and their role in the Japanese process of nation building, by analyzing the opening of the museums in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara, and examining theories of nationalism and of museum studies.Show less
