ANTH 303 - Museums in the History of Anthropology

Summer (3) Bragdon (GER 4C)

This course looks at Anthropology Museums and the History of Ethnographic Collecting as a “way into” an understanding of the history of the field of Anthropology itself. 19th century Museum ethnology gave way in Europe and in North America to the new interest cultural and social anthropology, but these latter disciplines retained many ties to older museums and their collecting philosophies. This course combines “fieldwork” studying existing ethnological museum display and collections, with broader discussions of the rise of British social anthropological theory and American cultural anthropology as academic disciplines. Issues such as the relationship of museum collecting to colonialism, material cultural theory and Its implications for ethnographic analysis, and the current role ethnographic museums play in the teaching of anthropology will also be addressed.