ANTH 372: Critical Issues for Museums in the 21st Century

Museums of the 21st century are increasingly complex organizations, engaged with the critical issues of the day, whether by design or necessity. Few museums today can afford the luxury of being the "temples of treasures" of past centuries, with collections tended and displayed for the elite who have the leisure of appreciating them. Museums in the 21st century have been thrust onto the global stage and are dealing with issues resulting from political and religious conflicts, questions of legal and ethical rights to ownership of collections, international treaties and laws, recognition of native peoples and their voice in the disposition of their cultural patrimony, as well as engagement with local communities through exhibitions and public programming on issues such as poverty, homelessness, health, the environment, and many other challenges in both rural and urban settings. Globalization and technology have brought the world closer together, with resulting demands for greater accessibility to museum collections and curatorial knowledge. Museums, whether public or private, local or international, are more than ever accountable to and dependent upon multiple, often competing, constituents, and on communities and public engagement, while resources for the support of those museums are, in many cases, shrinking.