ENGL 480.15. Spring 2006
Interpretation and Display
Deborah C. Andrews
MEM 135. Email: dandrews@udel.edu
Web: www.english.udel.edu/dandrews
Office hours: Tuesday 2-3; Wednesday 9-10
Email questions and comments are always welcome


Objects and sites can’t speak for themselves. Someone interprets them-- guides the reader/viewer in understanding what they are and what they mean. Museums, libraries, zoos, gardens, parks, and other cultural organizations display and interpret their collections for a variety of publics. In this seminar, we will use rhetorical theories and insights from cultural and historical studies to analyze interpretive strategies and produce interpretive materials. Interpretation requires more than description and definition, although it includes those rhetorical modes. Interpretation also has an argumentative dimension as objects and sites take on new meaning in new contexts.

 
Texts

Penelope Lively. A House Unlocked. New York: Grove, 2001.
Susan M. Pearce. Museums, Objects, and Collections: A Cultural Study. Washington: Smithsonian, 1992. On reserve at the library.

Other readings in journals and Website as assigned.

 

Assignments

To fulfill the requirements of this course, you will visit sites and collections, analyze the sponsoring organization’s interpretive strategies, reflect more broadly on the cultural implications of the site or collection, and report your findings in writing and orally to the class. The reports and the discussions they engender provide the major content of the seminar. We’ll develop a protocol for the reports early in the semester. 

You’ll write two such reports as a member of two different teams. For the final assignment, which may be completed either individually or on a team, you’ll meet one of the following purposes: 1. develop interpretive materials for a real or hypothetical site or collection; 2. write a review of a current exhibition for a newspaper or journal; 3. interview a collector and report on the interview.

In addition to the discussions listed in the schedule below, take advantage of the rich opportunities at the University for guest speakers and exhibits that bear on the topic of our seminar. Visit the following websites regularly to update yourself on these opportunities:

www.udel.edu/ArtHistory
http://materialculture.udel.edu
www.museums.udel.edu

 

Schedule

08 F Material culture: The rhetoric of objects. Course logistics
15 F Meet in the University Gallery. Old College. Talk by Janis Tomlinson, Director, University Museums. Read Penelope Lively, A House Unlocked (Grove Press, 2001), pp. ix-80
22 F

A House Unlocked, pp. 81-140. Collections and collecting. The culture of objects
1 M A House Unlocked, pp. 141-end. Museums. The protocol for seminar reports
8 M

The politics and power of display (readings to be assigned)
15 M

First site reports:
Brandywine museum: Lindsey, Stacy, Danny
Longwood Gardens: YaWon, Dustin
Mutter Museum: Hillary, Emily, Mike
17-18 M

4th Annual Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars
Winterthur Museum and Country Estate
Registration: http://materialculture.udel.edu
Students are encouraged to attend!
22 M

Interpretive genres (readings to be assigned)

First site reports:
            Small town museum in Dover: Christina, Carson, Linda
            Camden Aquarium: Nicole, Lauren, Amanda
            University museums: Kim, Julie, Christine 
Spring Break - A good time for site visits!
5 A Second site reports
12 A Second site reports
19 A Second site reports
26 A

Special focus: interpreting nature and science (readings to be assigned)
3 M

Special focus: interpreting art (readings to be assigned)
10 M Special focus: interpreting history and culture (readings to be assigned)
17 M Final assignment due. A new light on interpretation and display