The proposal for a BSA study group on Museums & Society emerged from the last meeting of the ESRC sponsored seminar series Museum and Society (1998-2000). The aim of the ESRC Seminar was to facilitate collaboration between university social scientists with museum interests and museum practitioners with an interest in the social sciences. By March 2000 the seminar had grown to a network of about 90 people and it became apparent that there was a substantial amount of museum investigation going on in UK universities.
The BSA Museums & Society Study Group was set up in July 2001 to continue the debate generated by the ESRC seminar and to provide a forum for those interested in museums.
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The aims of the study group are:
1. to focus on the institution of the museum (past and present) as a significant site for sociological theorizing and empirical research. “Museum” in this context includes art galleries.
2. to develop an understanding of the diversity of museum forms and related cultural practices (e.g. popular collecting and heritage).
3. to explore the relationships between museums and other institutions, social relations and processes (families, schools, nation-states, ethnicity, gender, social change etc).
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The group will meet 4 times a year. These meetings will take the form of one-day seminars for the presentation of working papers and will each be based on a specific theme; for example, museums and nationality, museums and cultural ownership, museums and gender, or museums and new technology. There will be a nominal charge for non-members to cover administrative costs – reduced costs will apply for postgraduates.
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Please watch this space for details.
Annual Report
The Museum & Society Study Group Annual Report for 2008 is now available.
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Click here to see the groups archive of past events.
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If you would like to suggest other links for this page, please contact Rhiannon Mason.
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We hope that the group and this website will provide an important focal point for researchers, academics, postgraduates, museum professionals, conference organisers, and editors, all working in this field.
While the study group´s main focus will be sociological, those working on museums in other disciplines, for example, cultural studies, museum and heritage studies, critical and cultural theory, archaeology, history, cultural geography, anthropology, museum education, tourism and leisure studies, or art history, are actively encouraged to participate. We currently have around 80 people from a diverse range of backgrounds who have expressed an interest in participating in the group.
The cross-disciplinary composition of this group is in keeping with the current nature of museological study. We anticipate that the act of bringing together sociologists with colleagues in these other fields will be mutually advantageous.
If you would like to join – or to help with the running of the group – please email us.
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Dr Gaynor Bagnall
ESPaCH
Faculty of Arts, Media & Social Science
University of Salford
Cresent House,
Salford M5 4WT
Tel: 0161 295 6554
Send an email.
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