Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Acknowledgements Chapter 4 1. Prologue: Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief Chapter 5 2. Introduction: Brokering Culture Part 6 I. Brokering the Smithsonian Chapter 7 3. Brokering the Smithsonian's 150th Anniversary Chapter 8 4. Making a Museum Object Chapter 9 5. Exhibiting the Enola Gay Chapter 10 6. What's with Anthropology? Chapter 11 7. Debating Racially and Culturally Specific Museums Chapter 12 8. The Festival on the Mall Part 13 II. Case Studies of Brokering Culture Chapter 14 9. The Festival of India Chapter 15 10. Brokering Post-Colar War Folklore Chapter 16 11. America's Reunion on the Mall: A Presidential Inaugural Chapter 17 12. O Jerusalem! Chapter 18 13. Workers' Culture in the White House Chapter 19 14. What Is It? The American South at the Olympics Chapter 20 15. Conclusion: The New Study and Curation of Culture

About the Author

Richard Kurin is director of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies and oversees the Festival of American Folklife, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and a variety of cultural education programs that have won Academy, Emmy, and Grammy awards.

Reviews

Written by the director of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Studies, this book is not an "official" accounting of Smithsonian policies, activities, and decisions but a personal essay based on firsthand knowledge. Intending to present a sorely needed casebook of professional practice for "culture brokers," Kurin offers a descriptive and analytic view of the process by which various types of major cultural presentations such as exhibits, museums, and festivals are developed, enacted, and situated. Regarding the Enola Gay controversy, he discusses the complex concept of "the search for truth and narrative" within "multiparadigmatic, deconstructed frameworks that make multiple versions of reality a fact of life." Kurin concludes that curation is process-oriented, not static, and is "a proactive effort to serve the public, increase understandability, and use the museum as a vehicle of inter- and intracultural communication." This down-to-earth, enjoyable, and thought-provoking title is highly recommended.? (from Library Journal; Jennifer L.S. Moldwin, Detroit Inst. of Arts Lib. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.)