Class Year

2024

Document Type

Student Research Paper

Date of Creation

Spring 2024

Department 1

Anthropology

Abstract

National legacies drastically impact museum work and archaeological ethical practices in the US and Italy. My research question asks, to what extent and how are ethical considerations of museum professionals shaped by nationalism and evolving perceptions of how museums should serve the public in these two different national contexts? Data collected from semi-structured interviews with academics in the field reflects that museums must be transparent about the history of the topics exhibited and their methodological practices; this is supported by many findings suggested in previous scholarship (Garoian 2001; Gazi 2014; Falcucci 2021). Particular moments in US and Italian national histories, specifically the periods of settler colonialism in the US and Fascism in Italy, must be understood and discussed in museum institutions so that the public can properly reflect on the ghosts of colonialism and Fascism to create more accurate, representative, and recontextualized spaces.

Comments

Written for ANTH 400: Capstone Experience in Anthropology

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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