Introduction to museology 7.5 credits

About the course

Museology is a discipline that explores theory and practice of museum institutions historically and today with focus on museum as a phenomenon and musealization as a practice. This course introduces museology as a field of studies and presents key concepts in the discipline. It gives an overview of the most discussed problems in the field, ranging from the societal relevance of museum institutions to their history and origins, focusing on the diversity of frameworks and approaches.

The course is web-based and consists of literature readings, discussions on a web-platform, online teaching moments and written assignments. It includes two modules:

Module 1: Museums and Heritage: Conceptual frameworks (2,5 ects)
Museer och kulturarv: Grundläggande begrepp

The module introduces museology as a discipline in relation to the global field of museum and heritage studies. It presents the most important concepts of museology and analyzes the museum definition which describes museums' functions and role in the society.

Module: 2 Institutions and discipline: Cruising across the fields (5 ects)
Institutioner och ämnet: Översikt av fältet

The module presents analytical and theoretical framework which aims to identify, analyze and discuss current trends within the museological thinking based on theoretical approaches and case studies. The module's design allows for the selection of the most recent and resonant cases. These cases are bracketed with the cutting-edge international research in the field. As a whole, the module brings forward overarching understanding of the current problems and discussions in museology.