Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary collection of approaches to museums and their relation to history, culture, philosophy and their adoring or combative publics.

• Brings together for the first time a wide array of texts that mix contemporary analysis with historical documentation
• Includes five sections that highlight central themes in museum studies: issue-oriented contexts in museology; states of "nature"; the status of nations; history, memory and other locations; and arts, crafts and visitors
• Addresses the development of museums, the role of the museum in society, and issues central to contemporary museum studies
• Opens with an introductory essay that situates museum studies in a truly interdisciplinary context and includes an opening essay for each section that guides the reader through the selections
• Includes a bibliography and list of resources devoted to museum studies that makes the volume an authoritative guide on the subject

Bettina Messias Carbonell has recently joined the faculty of the Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. Prior to this she taught interdisciplinary seminars in visual cultures, museum studies, American studies, aesthetics, and ethics at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. She also taught in the Graduate Program in American Studies / Museum and Communities concentration at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.