5XÉçÇøÊÓƵ

The Order of Things: The Museum and its Objects (V4137A)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

Drawing from the extensive collections of objects from around the world at the Victoria and Albert Museum, you’ll examine the fundamental questions of how and why these global objects were brought into the Museum.

You will focus on the objects' material histories and the cultures from which they came. You will also examine the motivations and mechanisms involved in the movement of objects to the museum, as well as the contexts in which they were displayed and received. You will consider the history of global collecting at the V&A and the legacy of the Universal Exhibitions. You’ll also look at the practices of copying and replication, radically changing the way we view objects and their images today.

You’ll examine a particular body of material from the collections of the museum, dating from a specific time and place. This is employed as a basis to study issues in museology and museum history, as well as in art history and the history of culture. The focus will be on how 19th-21st century art history has interpreted and explained these objects. You’ll aslo undertake general reading in the history of museums and debates in museology.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 267 hours of independent study. The 5XÉçÇøÊÓƵ may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.