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Experiencing Materiality
Museum Perspectives
Valentina Gamberi
198 pages, 18 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-78920-984-6 $120.00/£89.00 Hb Published (February 2021)
eISBN 978-1-80073-035-9 eBook
Description
Representing a cutting-edge study of the junction between theoretical anthropology, material culture studies, religious studies and museum anthropology, this study examines the interaction between the human and the nonhuman in a museum setting usually defined as ‘non-Western’, ‘non-scientific’ and ‘religious.’ Combining an on-site analysis of exhibitive spaces with archival research and interviews with museum curators, the chapters highlight contradictions of museum practices, and suggests that museum practitioners use museum spaces and artefacts as a way of formulating new theoretical stances in material culture studies, thus viewing museums as producers of theories together with affective engagements.
Valentina Gamberi was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology in Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, from 2019 to 2020. She is currently one of the recipients of the junior fellowship at the Research Centre for Material Culture in Leiden. Her English articles are featured in Culture and Religion, the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Material Religion and Environmental Philosophy.