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Artifacts and Allegiances

How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display

Peggy Levitt author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of California Press

Published:28th Aug '15

Should be back in stock very soon

Artifacts and Allegiances cover

What can we learn about nationalism by looking at a country's cultural institutions? How do the history and culture of particular cities help explain how museums represent diversity? Artifacts and Allegiances takes us around the world to tell the compelling story of how museums today are making sense of immigration and globalization. Based on firsthand conversations with museum directors, curators, and policymakers; descriptions of current and future exhibitions; and inside stories about the famous paintings and iconic objects that define collections across the globe, this work provides a close-up view of how different kinds of institutions balance nationalism and cosmopolitanism. By comparing museums in Europe, the United States, Asia, and the Middle East, Peggy Levitt offers a fresh perspective on the role of the museum in shaping citizens. Taken together, these accounts tell the fascinating story of a sea change underway in the museum world at large.

"An illuminating study that will be of interest to academics and museum professionals working in the field today." Publishers Weekly "Ambitious, well-written, and significant." Library Journal "Experimental - interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, self-critical, heterodox - approaches to art will have to be tried out if an audience for history, which is only as alive as our sense of investment in it, is not to be lost. (For a comparative look at some recent methods, I recommend Peggy Levitt's 'Artifacts and Allegiances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display,'" -- Holland Cotter New York Times "Artifacts and Allegiances is a compelling narrative whose insight and passion is well-supported by rich and rigorous sociological analysis, ultimately offering a welcome contribution to scholars across disciplines interested in museums, global politics, and the culture of place." Society

ISBN: 9780520286078

Dimensions: 254mm x 178mm x 18mm

Weight: unknown

268 pages