Exploding Canons: The Anthropology of Museums

Abstract

over the treatment of non-Western art and material culture in museums. I have chosen to bypass the steady flow of solid ethnographic studies of traditional arts and popular arts, and the emergence of new theoretical concerns in these studies for two reasons. 1 First, academic anthropologists rarely consider mu­ seum anthropology as an important area for the employment of anthropolo­ gists, and thus for the training of students. The situation for anthropologists in museums is rapidly changing and aspiring curators should be advised of the directions of change. Second, museum anthropologists