Challenging history in the museum

Kidd, Jenny ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0188-2140, Cairns, Samantha, Drago, Alex, Ryall, Amy and Stearn, Miranda, eds. 2014. Challenging history in the museum. International Perspectives, Farnham: Ashgate.

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Abstract

Challenging History in the Museum explores work with difficult, contested and sensitive heritages in a range of museum contexts. It is based on the Challenging History project, which brings together a wide range of heritage professionals, practitioners and academics to explore heritage and museum learning programmes in relation to difficult and controversial subjects. The book is divided into four sections. Part I, ’The Emotional Museum’ examines the balance between empathic and emotional engagement and an objective, rational understanding of ’history’. Part II, ’Challenging Collaborations’ explores the opportunities and pitfalls associated with collective, inclusive representations of our heritage. Part III, ’Ethics, Ownership, Identity’ questions who is best-qualified to identify, represent and ’own’ these histories. It challenges the concept of ownership and personal identification as a prerequisite to understanding, and investigates the ideas and controversies surrounding this premise. Part IV, ’Teaching Challenging History’ helps us to explore the ethics and complexities of how challenging histories are taught. The book draws on work countries around the world including Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, Spain and USA and crosses a number of disciplines: Museum and Heritage Studies, Cultural Policy Studies, Performance Studies, Media Studies and Critical Theory Studies. It will also be of interest to scholars of Cultural History and Art History.

Item Type:	Book - edited
Book Type:	Edited Book
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture
Subjects:	A General Works > AM Museums (General). Collectors and collecting (General) D History General and Old World > D History (General)
Publisher:	Ashgate
ISBN:	9781409467243
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	11 Aug 2026 10:53
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/52662

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