Museums in the material world.

We cite from the cover:
"Museums in the Material World
Museums in the Material World seeks to both introduce classic and thought-provoking pieces and contrast them with articles which reveal grounded practice. The articles are selected from across the full breadth of museum disciplines and are linked by a logical narrative, as detailed in the introductions.
The choice of articles reveals how the debate has opened up on disciplinary practice, how the practices of the past have been critiqued and in some cases replaced, how it has become necessary to look beyond and outside disciplinary boundaries and how old practices can in many circumstances continue to have validity.
Museums in the Material World clarifies and expands the horizons of material culture studies as they pertain to museums and opens the eyes of students from a range of disciplines to a much broader understanding of the complexities and subtleties of the museum engagement with the material world. Museums in the Material World is about broadening horizons and moving museum studies students, and others, beyond the narrow confines of their own disciplinary thinking or indeed any narrow conception of collections. In essence, this is a book about the practice of interpretation and will therefore be of great use to those students of museums and museum practitioners.
Simon J. Knell is Head of Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, UK."
CONTENTS :
1. SIMON J. KNELL: Museums, reality and the material world ;
PART ONE - THE OBJECTIVE WORLD :
Introduction to Part One : SIMON J. KNELL :
2. PAISLEY S. CATO: The value of natural history collections in Latin America conservation ;
3. WELTON L. LEE, BRUCE M. BELL AND JOHN F. SUTTON: Characterization of voucher specimens ;
4. ELIZABET STAVENOW-HIDEMARK: Home thoughts from abroad: an evaluation of the SAMDOK Homes Pool ;
5. BARBARA E. FRANK: Ceramics as testaments of the past: field research and making objects speak ;
6. DAVID CARRIER: In praise of connoisseurship ;
7. MICHAEL SHANKS AND CHRISTOPHER TILLEY: Material culture ;
PART TWO - THE SUBJECTIVE WORLD :
Introduction to Part Two : SIMON J. KNELL :
8. STEPHEN E. WEIL: On a new foundation: the American art museum reconceived ;
9. DONALD PREZIOSI: The art of art history ;
10. JANET CATHERINE BERLO AND RUTH B. PHILLIPS: Our (museum) world turned upside down: re-presenting Native American arts ;
11. ALUN MUNSLOW: History as deconstruction ;
12. MICHAEL SHANKS AND IAN HODDER: Processual, postprocessual and interpretive archaeologies ;
13. DANIEL MILLER: Artefacts and the meaning of things ;
PART THREE - THE CONSUMED WORLD :
Introduction to Part Three : SIMON J. KNELL :
14. PIERRE BOURDIEU: The aristocracy of culture ;
15. DERRICK CHONG: Stakeholder relationships in the market for contemporary art ;
16. JONATHAN VICKERY: Organising art: constructing aesthetic value ;
17. BRIAN J. MCVEIGH: How Hello Kitty commodifies the cute, cool and camp ;
18. COLIN CAMPBELL: The sociology of consumption ;
19. ANNETTE B. WEINER: Inalienable wealth ;
20. SIMON J. KNELL: Consuming fossils and museums in early nineteenth-century England ;
21. VIRGINIA MORELL: Dustup in the bone pile: academics v. collectors ;
PART FOUR - THE TRANSIENT WORLD :
Introduction to Part Four : SIMON J. KNELL :
22. ANDREW GULLIFORD: Bones of contention: the repatriation of Native American human remains ;
23. ALAN TRACHTENBERG: Contesting the West ;
24. EDWARD M. BRUNER: Abraham Lincoln as authentic reproduction: a critique of postmodernism ;
25. ERIC GABLE AND RICHARD HANDLER: After authenticity at an American heritage site ;
26. SANDRA DUDLEY: Diversity, identity and modernity in exile: 'traditional' Karenni clothing ;
27. GLENN COLLINS: Tangible reminders of Sept. 11th ;
28. PHILIP S. DOUGHTY: On the rocks ;
29. VALERIUS GEIST: Endangered species and the law ;
30. PERE ALBERCH: Museums, collections and biodiversity inventories ;
Index.