A Companion to Museum Studies captures a fresh, multi disciplinary approach to the study of the development, roles, and significance of museums in contemporary society. The essays examine the complexity of the museum from cultural, political governance, curatorial, historical, and representational perspectives. A Companion to Museum Studies captures the multidisciplinary approaches to the study of the development, roles, and significance of museums in contemporary society. It is an indispensable reference for art historians, museum curators, and art and culture lovers. List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgments. Bibliographical Note. 1. Expanding Museum Studies: an Introduction (Sharon Macdonald). Part I: Perspectives, Disciplines, Concepts. Introduction. 2. Cultural Theory and Museum Studies (Rhiannon Mason). 3. Sociology and the Social Aspects of Museums (Gordon Fyfe). 4. Art History and Museology: Rendering the Visible Legible (Donald Preziosi). 5. Museums and Anthropologies. Practices and Narratives (Anthony Alan Shelton). 6. Collecting Practices (Sharon Macdonald). 7. The Conundrum of Ephemerality: Time, Memory and Museums (Susan A. Crane). Part II. Histories, Heritage, Identities. Introduction. 8. The Origins of the Public Museum (Jeffrey Abt). 9. World s Fairs and Museums (Robert W. Rydell). 10. Making and Remaking National Identities (Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan). 11. Museums and Community (Elizabeth Crooke). 12. Re staging Histories and Identities (Rosmarie Beier de Haan). 13. Heritage (Steven Hoelscher). Part III. Architecture, Space, Media. Introduction. 14. Museum Architecture: a Brief History (Michaela Giebelhausen). 15. Insight versus Entertainment. Untimely Meditations on the Architecture of 20th Century Art Museums (Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani). 16. Civic Seeing: Museums and the Organisation of Vision (Tony Bennett). 17. Spatial Syntax: the Language of Museum Space (Bill Hillier and Kali Tzortzi). 18. New Media (Michelle Henning). Part IV. Visitors, Learning, Interacting: Introduction. 19. Living in a Learning Society: Museums and Free Choice Learning (John H. Falk, Lynn D. Dierking and Marianna Adams). 20. Museum Education (George E. Hein). 21. Interactivity: Thinking Beyond (Andrea Witcomb). 22. Studying Visitors (Eilean Hooper Greenhill). Part V. Globalization, Profession, Practice. Introduction. 23. Globalization: In Corporating the Museum (Mark W. Rectanus). 24. Cultural Economics (Bruno S. Frey and Stephan Meier). 25. The Museum Profession (Patrick J. Boylan). 26. Museum Ethics (Tristram Besterman). 27. Museum Practice: Legal Issues (Patty Gerstenblith). 28. Non Western Models of Museums and Curation in Cross Cultural Perspective (Christina Kreps). Part VI. Culture Wars, Transformations, Futures. Introduction. 29. Incivilities in Civil( ized) Places: Culture Wars in Comparative Perspective (Steven C. Dubin). 30. Science Museums and the Culture Wars (Steven Conn). 31. Postmodern Restructurings (Nick Prior). 32. Exposing the Public (Mieke Bal). 33. The Future of Museums (Charles Saumarez Smith). Index.