Science, Magic & Religion

by Bouquet, Mary; Porto, Nuno

• ISBN13: 9781571815217
• ISBN10: 157181521X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-31
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

For some time now, museums have been recognized as important institutions of western cultural and social life. The idea of the museum as a ritual site is fairly new and has been applied to the art museums in Europe and the United States so far. This volume expands it by exploring a range of contemporary museums in Europe and Africa. The case studies examine the different ways in which various actors involved in cultural production dramatize and ritualize such sites. It turns out that not only museum specialists, but visitors themselves are engaged in complex performances and experiences that make use of museums in often unexpected ways.

Table of Contents

Introduction: science, magic and religion: the ritual processes of museum magic	p. 1
Memorialising the future : the museum of science and industry in Manchester	p. 29
Unwrapping mummies and telling their stories : Egyptian mummies in museum rhetoric	p. 51
Congo-vision	p. 75
The scourge of Chief Kansabala : the ritual life of two Congolese masterpieces at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (1884-2001)	p. 95
Paradise in the making at Artis Zoo, Amsterdam	p. 119
The natural magic of Monte San Giovanni : authority, authenticity and ritual in Sardinia	p. 141
The performance of heritage in a reconstructed, post-apartheid museum in Namibia	p. 161
Haunted art : visiting an exhibit in Weimar	p. 182
Enchantment and its dilemmas : the museum as a ritual site	p. 209
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