Steven Conn's Do Museums Still Need Objects, which will be published next month by Penn Press, is yet another book I want to read. I'll pick up a copy when I'm in Philly for the Pastorius conference next month. In the meantime, here's a link to a podcast discussion with Conn.
Do Museums Still Need Objects?
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Listening to the podcast, it brought to mind museums as exemplifying processes of cultural commodification and the effects of capitalist imperatives on museums as institutions, as well as work by Bourdieu. In addition, it reminded me of questions broached some years ago by Ananda K. Commaraswamy (with regard to art museums): "Why Exhibit Works of Art?", "Is Art a Superstition, or a Way of Life?", and "What is the Use of Art Anyway?," all found in his exquisite little book, Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art (1956, orig. publ. 1943).
I like his suggestions for using science and natural history museums to educate citizens and serve as sites for discussion and debate (re-thinking the pedagogical functions of these institutions).
In short, thanks for letting us know of this book, it appears to be quite informative and provocative.
Really interesting connections, Patrick. Along the lines of the capitalism/socialism divide in museums, there's John Merryman's argument that museums exhibit the cultural capital of humanity and, therefore, we should keep the products of native cultures in places like the British museum, where they can be seen by more people (and perhaps preserved better) than if they were back in the places that produced them, like Athens. I've blogged some about this before–probably ought to return to this:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/property/2006/06/imperialism_art.html