Why Study Museology
by Rachana Shetty
Sometime in October 2019, in the days leading up to the first semester examinations of the PG Diploma Course in Museology, amid serious last-minute cramming, one of the questions that popped up was the difference between “museology” and “museography”. Some time was spent on retrieving and agonising over a definition that distinguished between the two on the broad category of theory and practice, but I admit (despite the risk of some of my teachers reading this) still feeling bewildered by the degree of differentiation. It was eerily reminiscent of the hair-splitting list-the-difference answers expected in school.
Over the last few months, I have learnt, however, that the degree of specificity defines the functioning of museums. When you are handling, displaying and talking of objects of immense historical and cultural value, to the point where valuing them monetarily seems almost impossible; when you are counted on to serve as a source of credible historical perspectives in a post-truth world, specificity becomes the binding rule.
It’s also why some kind of training in museology becomes imperative, regardless of the subject in which one has graduated or specialised. What does a course in museology entail? Perhaps it’s better to start with a negative definition — or rather what the course does not entail. Museology courses, offered by a handful of institutions in the country, are not hobby courses. A high degree of intent is expected when one enrols for the course, for it is intensive, although in certain cases it is possible to keep up with coursework (lectures, assignments, field trips) alongside the demands of a professional life. The course at CSMVS encompasses principles of museum management, collection management, an introduction to conservation ethics and practices, communication and exhibition planning and development.
Each section has its own importance in the museum world but collection management and conservation are undoubtedly critical. The former is about managing the collection, the core function of the museum, and requires awareness of both day-to-day functions and a long-term vision with regards to acquisitions. In addition, collection management also requires knowledge of laws that govern the management of heritage and environment, as well as the ability and knowledge to gauge what fits in best with the collection policy of a museum. Conservation is, as the name suggests, is a set of practices aimed to prolong the life of an object, including conservation that may be preventive, remedial or a restoration.
As important as these functions are, however, they do not operate in silos. Museums are cultural institutions, communicating a range of ideas and narratives to a diverse audience through myriad forms and activities. But museums are also enterprises, albeit not-for-profit, where salaries need to be paid, premises maintained, and funds garnered for projects like exhibitions and events, conservation programmes and acquisition of objects.
Already art museums in America have been given a hesitant green light to deaccession and sell works of art in their collections if the funds are channelled back into the museum sector[1]. It’s an alarming omen, wrapped up in all kinds of ethical, professional and legal dilemmas. But it is also a telling indictment of the fact that a museum’s financial problems take very different forms compared to regular enterprise. External financial consultants may not have the answers museums need because their own functions and values to society work in different levels. Where does museology fit into all this? If you want to work in a sector that’s going to have to survive a literal existential crisis over the next few years, a knowledge of how a museum functions becomes key. In a strange way, the situation seems apt for museology: to know the future, one must also know the past.
The unceasing need for specificity in the museum world, however, lies comfortably alongside the fact that it accommodates a lot more backgrounds and skills than is popularly perceived. Even moving away from museums, to other GLAM professions — like galleries, libraries and archives — a course in museology would still yield a reasonable grounding, specially in terms of practices like managing collections and communications. And within the museum, too, the scope for learning skills on the go, in a hands-on manner is vast.
So what does museology teach you? It teaches you how a museum functions and may function in the future, about its many relations with its visitors, defined equally by their interests and the museum’s offerings. It instils respect for the many ways in which people contribute to keeping a museum running, often making resources stretch in incredible ways. And even if the jobs may be a bit hard to come by for the foreseeable future, the lessons of trying to be precise, exacting and critical in analysis and thought are valuable, nonetheless.
Works Cited:
Smee, Sebastian. “This is how bad things are for museums: They now have a green light to sell off their art”. Washington Post. April 30, 2020.
