Cross cultural education in art museums is an interesting and complex issue.
While cultural exhibitions have received attention in research, studies have usually
focused on the nature of the exhibitions and have not explored the audience's
understanding about culture in relationship to the exhibition.
This qualitative study explores how and what First Nations cultures have been
mediated by a civic art museum and negotiated by the museum audience, and the
relationship between the two. Observations of the exhibition and audience and
interviews with 99 adults in the museum were collected and analyzed to identify patterns
and relationships. Analysis of the exhibition found the mediation of culture was
distinguished by a partnership of the museum and First Nations cultures which reflected
both their languages and voices. Audience responses illustrated a range of affective,
factual and conceptual responses. Positive affective responses reflected the stimulation
and satisfaction with learning which occurred. Visitors indicated enlightenment, exposure
and revision of previously held ideas and assumptions, similarities and differences among
cultures, and insight into perspectives of others.
Partnership between the museum and the exhibition of masks from Northwest
First Nations cultures is seen as a complex undertaking requiring reflection and
examination of these two cultures. Visitor responses to the exhibition indicates learning,
thinking and innumerable ways individuals construct meanings and understanding from
art museum experiences. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/11288 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Dent, Sandra |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 8624996 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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