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Mangles, Muck and Myths: Rural History Museums in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Gaynor Kavanagh
Gaynor Kavanagh
Affiliation:
Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
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Extract

In the field of cultural studies, it is well established that no history comes to us innocently. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are laden with preferred myths and the gentlest of facts. The challenge facing those operating within the field is to develop critical practices which expose some of the nonsense that disempowers our understanding. This demands the strengthening of those practices which promote new forms of knowledge. The identification of appropriate questions, the constructive use of all forms of evidence, the adoption of relevant, analytical methods, and the formation of coherent conclusions are essential to the health and future of any academic discipline. Within the field of museum studies, such rethinking has been taking place since the early 1980s (for example, Cannizzo, 1987; Hooper-Greenhill, 1988; Jenkins, 1987; Jenkinson, 1988; Kavanagh, 1991; Pearce, 1988; Porter, 1988).

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 1991 , pp. 187 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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