Hot Culture, Cold Halls: Narrating History and Healing at Sites of Trauma

<p>With the increased threat of geopolitical violence in the 21^st century (bioterrorism, nuclear war, government upheaval, and the like), and at a time when most of the world’s citizens are desensitized to extreme forms of violence, it is necessary for museum professionals to undertake the mission of bringing order out of such chaos to educate the public by creating a tangible truth. By “cooling off” the material remains of a mass trauma through processing, registrars begin a chain of events that ultimately allows curators to establish effective visual narratives of the build-up of tensions, the culmination of the events, the immediate aftermath, and the lessons learned in an exhibition that is both educational and commemorative. This paper will explore the process of ordering chaos in the wake of trauma from the initial processing of material remnants through final exhibition and propose best practices for ongoing and future commemorative projects. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MA Museum Professions

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication and the Arts

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Burde, Emily L

Contributors dc:contributor

• Juergen Heinrichs, Ph.D.

• Memorial Museums
• Exhibitions
• Collections
• Germany
• Rwanda
• September 11
• Cultural History
• Social History

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2016

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.shu.edu:dissertations-3038