Museum Anthropology

Catalog description

This course provides an introduction to the methodological and theoretical approaches of museum anthropology. Students will gain experience with all these aspects of museum anthropology in the course by engaging with critical scholarship, analyzing case studies, and practicing collections-based research methods utilizing the collections of the University Museum. Through assignments students will analyze objects in the museum’s collections using techniques of close looking, drawing, photography, sequences of making, and external research using scholarly sources. Students will gain skills in primary and secondary research, the analysis of material culture, and the practicalities of navigating research in museums.