Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Material Culture of the Middle East, Its Intangible Dimensions and New MuseumsIn this issue of Anthropology of the Middle East, we present contributions that deal with museums, museology and their approaches to the new social situations through which they must navigate.Cutting a swathe very generously around the Mediterranean and the Middle East -from Tunis to Qatar, Turkey and, as an extension, to Austria -we bring together articles that look closely into some acute issues of today: the transformation from colonial to postcolonial and its reverberant impacts, from national to post-national and transnational societies both in Europe and the Middle East, and to the stringencies of material culture, cultural heritage and 'meaningful objects' , and how to preserve, to analyse and to exhibit them.All contributors dedicate their works published here to the social, cultural and economic changes affecting societies and communities, and to the demands that increasing diversity presents as challenges to cultural institutions and their personnel.This special issue addresses the associated questions of the intangible dimensions of the material culture of the Middle East and new museological practices and approaches in the region.The Middle East is well known for its extremely rich material cultural heritage and is, as such, the home of several of the world's most iconic World Heritage sites (such as Babylon and Palmyra, to name but two).As a consequence, the region has had a long-standing and tortuous relationship with the archaeological, ethnographic and museological practices of European scientists (and amateurs) whose work frequently served the colonial project as well as seeking to collect material culture related to Europe's ancient and Christian pasts.The associated intangible aspects of this material culture have been less well discussed.Since the recognition of intangible cultural heritage is now understood to have introduced a new heritage safeguarding and protection paradigm, it is timely to consider what
Source: Anthropology of the Middle East
Authors: Janet Blake, Danila Mayer
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2334547255