Newcastle University

Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies

Please note that this subject has been suspended & will not be on offer to students during the 2013/14 academic year.

Subject summary

Newcastle University has been at the forefront of museum, gallery and heritage studies since the early 1990s, and has internationally renowned postgraduate programmes in this area with alumni working all over the world. We are now introducing an undergraduate pathway to allow students to explore some of the intellectual underpinnings in the field. These will address questions like:

• What is heritage and how does it link to identity politics?
• How do we conserve and represent our own past?
• What roles have museums and galleries played in history and how have practices of conservation, collecting and exhibition evolved over time?
• What are the relations between museums, galleries and heritage and national and local politics?
• How do galleries work to define what is and what isn’t ‘art’?
• What is at stake in museum, gallery and heritage controversies?

Staff cover a wide range of specialisms including art curatorship, museum and gallery education, cultural policy, interpretation, visitor studies, the care of human remains, museums and identity and digital technologies for heritage.

The University has excellent facilities which support museum, gallery and heritage studies, including one of the largest subject-specific library collections in the UK and the Great North Museum, which has two sites (Hancock and Hatton) on campus. The region has a thriving gallery scene as well as numerous museums and heritage sites.

Pre-requisites

No practical work is involved, but the course aims to provide an introduction to museums, galleries and heritage as key elements within the organization of knowledge, culture and society. The course will provide an excellent foundation for postgraduate vocational study within the area, ultimately equipping you for work within museums, galleries and heritage organisations. Teaching takes the form of lecture & seminar format, with visits where appropriate.

Students are advised to read the following as a broad introduction to the subject:
Gerard Corsane (ed.) (2005) Heritage, Museums and Galleries: an introductory reader (London: Routledge)

Examples of Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies modules offered

Please note that Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies can be taken as a minor subject only (40 credits).