“<i>Rhetorics of Value</i> makes a major contribution to the theory of museum exhibitions by focusing on the relationship between the design of exhibitions and the way they are open to interpretation and their impact. Covering a diverse set of exhibitions, this important book will engage with a wide audience and will influence discourse in museum studies, cultural studies, African studies, and anthropology more generally.” - Howard Morphy, author of (Museums, Infinity, and the Culture of Protocols: Ethnographic Collections and Source Communities) “A lifetime of research and reflection comes together in this richly conceived book. This is a timely addition to critical museum studies, a field that has evolved with and thanks to Corinne A. Kratz. She brings her perspective as ethnographer, curator, and visitor to a stunning range of exhibitions with theoretical sophistication and a clear moral compass.” - Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Acknowledgments xv
1. Looking into the Void: Exhibition Design and Communication 1
2. Rhetorics of Value: Fashioning Worth and Meaning through Cultural Display 23
3. From Tippoo’s Tiger to Kauai Lagoons: Constituting Authorities, Defining Diversities, and Poetics of Similarity and Difference (co-authored with Ivan Karp) 65
4. What Makes Exhibitions Ethnographic? 101
5. Portable Technologies: Adapting and Transforming Ethnographic Exhibits and African Museums 137
6. Redesigning Popular Histories and Facing Race Through Exhibition 171
7. Alchemies and Encounters in Exhibit Design and Communication 211
Appendix A. The Riddle of Exhibit Design: Essential but Overlooked 239
Appendix B. The Field of Visitor Studies and Exhibit Design 245
Notes 249
References 299
Index