What is a Museum? Difference all the way down

The Mapping Museums research team recently compiled a dataset of UK museums. In doing so, we had to decide what counted as a museum. In this paper, we outline our initial approaches for establishing the criteria for selection: using definitions; key characteristics; and self-identification; and desc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMuseum and society Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 115 - 131
Main Authors Fiona Candlin, Jamie Larkin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Leicester 01.07.2020
Subjects
definition, assemblage, self-identification
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Summary:The Mapping Museums research team recently compiled a dataset of UK museums. In doing so, we had to decide what counted as a museum. In this paper, we outline our initial approaches for establishing the criteria for selection: using definitions; key characteristics; and self-identification; and describe why they proved inadequate with respect to the heterogeneity of museum practice. We then explain how assemblage theory helped us conceptualise the complex realities of the museum sector and to address the problem of selection, which in turn led to our developing a non-essentialising model of museums and a new account of the UK museum sector.
ISSN:1479-8360
DOI:10.29311/mas.v18i2.3147