Overview

By exploring the processes of collecting, which challenge the bounds of normally acceptable practice, this book debates the practice of collecting ‘difficult’ objects, from a historical and contemporary perspective; and discusses the acquisition of objects related to war and genocide, and those purchased from the internet, as well as considering human remains, mass produced objects and illicitly traded antiquities. The aim is to apply a critical approach to the rigidity of museums in maintaining essentially nineteenth-century ideas of collecting; and to move towards identifying priorities for collection policies in museums, which are inclusive of acquiring ‘difficult’ objects. Much of the book engages with the question of the limits to the practice of collecting as a means to think through the implementation of new strategies.

Full Product Details

Author:   Graeme Were ,  J. C. H. King
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
Weight:   0.463kg
ISBN:  

9780857453631

ISBN 10:   0857453637
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   01 March 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

List of Figures Extreme Collecting: Dealing with Difficult Objects Graeme Were Part I: Dificult Objects Chapter 1. The Material Culture of Persecution: Collecting for the Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum Suzanne Bardgett Chapter 2. Lyricism and Offence in Egyptian Archaeology Collections Stephen Quirke Chapter 3. Contested Human Remains Jack Lohman Chapter 4. Extreme or Commonplace: The Collecting of Unprovenanced Antiquities Kathryn Walker Tubb Chapter 5. Unfit for Society? The Case of the Galton Collection at University College London Natasha McEnroe Part II: Mass Produced Chapter 6. Knowing the New Susan Pearce Chapter 7. T he Global Scope of Extreme Collecting: Japanese Woodblock Prints on the Internet Richard Wilk Chapter 8. A wkward Objects: Collecting, Deploying and Debating Relics Jan Geisbusch Chapter 9. Great Expectations and Modest Transactions: Art, Commodity and Collecting Henrietta Lidchi Part III: Extreme Matters Chapter 10. Extremes of Collecting at the Imperial War Museum 1917–2009: Struggles with the Large and the Ephemeral Paul Cornish Chapter 11. Plastics – Why Not? A Perspective from the Museum of Design in Plastics Susan Lambert Chapter 12. T ime Capsules as Extreme Collecting Brian Durrans Chapter 13. Canning Cans – a Brand New Way of Looking at History Robert Opie in conversation with J.C.H. King Notes on Contributors Index

Reviews

This collection is an interesting concept, composed of telling case studies over a satisfying range of collecting topics with some consideration of philosophical and theoretical perspectives. * Linda Young, Deakin University

Author Information

Graeme Were is Chair of Anthropology at the University of Bristol. His current research focuses on material culture and ethnographic museums; digital heritage and source community engagement; and, ethnomathematics in the Pacific. His recent publications include Lines that Connect: Rethinking Pattern and Mind in the Pacific (University of Hawai’i Press, 2010), and Pacific Pattern, with S. Küchler (Thames & Hudson, 2005). He is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and an editor of the Journal of Material Culture.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions