History and Mission of Museums

Recommended Prerequisites

Oral and written skills in Portugese.

Teaching Methods

The seminar is theoretical-practical in nature: presentation of content, clarification of doubts and tasks assigned  by the teacher; presentation and discussion of comments and tasks by students.

Learning Outcomes

Acquire the fundamental notions and concepts for the interpretation and analysis of museum contexts.

Identify the impact of doctrinal influence of new museology.

Know and understand the historical evolution of the museum phenomenon.

Identify (economic, social and cultural) changes that provide insight into developments in the museum field, as well as the characteristics of museum renovation that has occurred since the 1980s.

Understand the role of museums in a globalized world. 

Identify the diversity of the strategic missions of museums

Acquire the essential tools and methodologies for research work.

Build a vision that challenges the museum phenomenon.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. The disciplinary reasons for the History of Museology.  Museums, museology and exhibition design: theoretical and methodological issues. The impact of the new museology movement and enlargement of the concept of cultural heritage.  The concept of the museum and its historical antecedents.

2. Museums and society: their evolution in space and time.  The mission of museums: historical developments and current trends. Collections and knowledge.  From the proto-museum to the museums of the last generation.  The museum renovations of the eighties.  Intangible assets and virtual museums.

3. The museums in Portugal: a historical perspective.  From the origins to our days.

4. A typology of museums: classification criteria.  New cultural centers: problems of definition.

5. The impact of current sociocultural debates on museology.  The role of museums in contemporary society.

6. Research on the history of museology: sources, methods and new problems.

7. New issues: gender museology.

Head Lecturer(s)

Pedro Júlio Enrech Casaleiro

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Synthesis work: 50.0%
Research work: 50.0%

Bibliography

• CARREÑO, Francisco Javier Zubiaur, Curso de Museologia, Gigón,Trea,2004

• BOLAÑOS, Maria, La memoria del mundo: cien años de museologia (1900-2000), Gijón, Trea, 2000

• HERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ, Francisca, Manual de Museologia, Madrid, Síntesis, 1994

• HERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ, Francisca, Planteamientos teóricos de la museología, Gijon, Trea, 2006

• MONTANER, J. M., Museos para el nuevo siglo, Barcelona, Gili,1995

• PIMENTEL, Cristina, Sistema museológico português (1833-1991), Lisboa, F. G. 2005;

• ROCHA-TRINDADE, Maria Beatriz (Coordenação), Iniciação à museologia, Lisboa, Univ. Aberta, 1993

• RICO, Juan Carlos, La dificil supervivencia de los museos, Gigón, Trea, 2009

• SANTOS, Maria de Lourdes Lima dos; OLEIRO, Manuel Bairrão (coords), O Panorama Museológico em Portugal (2000-2003), Observatório das Actividades Culturais, IPM/ROM, Lisboa, 2005

• V ERGO, Peter (edited), The new museology, London, Reaktion Books Lda., 1989

• ZUBIAUR CARREÑO, F. J., Curso de museologia, Gijón, Trea, 2