About the Museum Studies Workshop
The Museum Studies Workshop at the University of Michigan provides a forum for graduate students from diverse disciplines to consider all aspects of museum theory and praxis, from issues related to the object (meaning, conservation, display, politics, aesthetics, use) to visitor experiences and learning, to the broader role of museums in society. We welcome any graduate student interested in topics relevant to museum studies, including material culture and the public humanities.
Some key questions we explore are: What is a museum? Why are museums important, broadly speaking, in historical, social, economic and political contexts? What is the role of the ‘object’ and its interpretation and preservation in museums? What are the challenges of representation? Who interprets the meanings of objects, and how do personal beliefs shape debates and representations? Why must museums revisit and revise their missions and visions?
We meet monthly to discuss new scholarly work and common readings, to workshop dissertation chapters and other drafts of relevant works-in-progress, and to visit area sites of interest to examine museum practice in action.
The Museum Studies Workshop was pleased to be a sponsor of Thinking About ‘Things’: Interdisciplinary Futures in Material Culture. This international graduate student conference connected the U-M graduate community with peers from around the globe for three days, May 10-12, 2010. The conference theme—preservation, broadly interpreted—emphasized preservation within museum contexts and echoed the workshop’s spirit of shared inquiry across disciplines.
Some key questions we explore are: What is a museum? Why are museums important, broadly speaking, in historical, social, economic and political contexts? What is the role of the ‘object’ and its interpretation and preservation in museums? What are the challenges of representation? Who interprets the meanings of objects, and how do personal beliefs shape debates and representations? Why must museums revisit and revise their missions and visions?
We meet monthly to discuss new scholarly work and common readings, to workshop dissertation chapters and other drafts of relevant works-in-progress, and to visit area sites of interest to examine museum practice in action.
The Museum Studies Workshop was pleased to be a sponsor of Thinking About ‘Things’: Interdisciplinary Futures in Material Culture. This international graduate student conference connected the U-M graduate community with peers from around the globe for three days, May 10-12, 2010. The conference theme—preservation, broadly interpreted—emphasized preservation within museum contexts and echoed the workshop’s spirit of shared inquiry across disciplines.
We Want to Know About *Your* Work
The Museum Studies Workshop provides a friendly forum for the discussion of U-M graduate student work related to museums. If you have a dissertation chapter, conference paper, or talk that you would like to present to our group for discussion and peer feedback, please contact us! We are currently scheduling presenters for the Winter 2012 term.
IMAGE: diorama by George Marchand, U-M Exhibit Museum
