Ethnology

eth•nol•o•gy

: a science that deals with the division of human beings into races and their origin, distribution, relations, and characteristics. 

Article #16 -- Ethnology: A Science on Display by Fabrice Grognet. 

This article was all about the transition that ethnological and history museums have made along with that field of science that is ethnology. Grognet talks about how specifically the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro and ethnology took three huge steps: 1) Just objects and their stories, 2) institutionalizing those objects and employing professionals, and 3) ethnological research began to loose interest in the objects themselves. The author illuminates that the original intent of ethnological museums is "to educate the public about alien cultures" (Grognet 165). Then he goes on to say that in order to actually attain this goal, there needs to be a step taken back to focusing more on the objects. "How then can it [the object] be made to communicate? 'First and foremost by ridding ourselves of the notion of art work. The object must shed its invasive aesthetic dimension!'" (Grognet 165). It's this line that made me think the most from the whole article. 

I do agree that ethnological museums should not cease to use their objects as a first reference point, but the thing I don't like about this statement is that it assumes art is intrinsically and inseparably based on its aesthetic value, and that if you were to strip something of its "aesthetic dimension," it would cease to be art. We have all seen art that is not pretty, and nor is it meant to be pretty. Each object has an aesthetic whether is it meant to have one or not, and so I'm not sure what the author is proposing here. I tend to be more on the side of believing that almost everything could be considered art, and anything that pours out of a person as expression and records history is art. So if it was an object made by a person, I don't think you can strip it of its aesthetic values. 

That's my little tangent for the day. haha. Until next blog!