Open AccessHeterotopia or Carnival Site?
Author(s) -
Jennifer Walklate
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
museum worlds
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.102
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 2049-6737
pISSN - 2049-6729
DOI - 10.3167/armw.2018.060104
Subject(s) - carnivalesque , heterotopia (medicine) , ethnography , chronotope , laughter , relation (database) , sociology , aesthetics , temporality , exhibitionism , epistemology , art , literature , anthropology , philosophy , psychoanalysis , psychology , computer science , genetics , database , biology
This article seeks to explore the Bakhtinian carnivalesque in relation tomuseums generally and to ethnographic museums in particular. The Bakhtinian carnivalesqueis based on antihierarchicalism, laughter, embodiment, and temporality,and it has the potential to move museums away from a problematic association withheterotopia. Instead, the carnivalesque allows ethnographic museums to be recognizedas active agents in the sociopolitical worlds around them, offers a lens through which toexamine and move forward some current practices, and forces museums to reconsidertheir position and necessity. This article also reflects on the value of transdisciplinaryapproaches in museum studies, positioning literary theory in particular as a valuableanalytical resource.