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A New Framing? Constitutional Representation at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2008

Mariah Zeisberg
Mariah Zeisberg
Affiliation:
University of Michigan. E-mail: [email protected])
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Abstract

The National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia orients its representation of the Constitution around the role of “We the People” in the conduct of constitutional politics. The self-presentation of the NCC explicitly connects its participatory interpretation of the Constitution to the interactivity of the museum experience itself, and announces its aspiration that visitors “get involved!” In so doing the NCC draws upon an emerging edge in museum theory that emphasizes the capacity of museums to support political citizenship. Although the museum's aspiration to enact participatory citizenship is laudable, its exhibits—because of their technologies, use of space, and content—subvert, rather than sustain, the participatory ideal.

Type
Perspective
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 553 - 568
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2008

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