Museums and Maori

Overview

This ground-breaking book explores the revolution that’s transformed New Zealand museums in recent decades, and is influencing how museums worldwide care for indigenous objects.Drawing on practical examples and interviews with professionals from all kinds of institutions, Dr Conal McCarthy lifts the lid on current practice. How do museum professionals deal with the indigenous objects in their care from day to day? How do they engage with tribal communities? How do they meet the needs of visitors, as well as these communities?The first critical study of its kind, Museums and Maori is an indispensible resource for professionals, students, academics, and museum supporters.

Author Biography

Conal McCarthy is the programme director in the School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He has degrees in English, Art History, Museum Studies and te reo Maori. He has strong links with museums, art galleries and heritage organisations around New Zealand, and has worked in a variety of professional roles including education and public programmes, interpretation, governance, collections and curatorial work. His academic research interests include museum history, theory and practice, exhibition history, Maori visual culture and contemporary heritage issues. Conal has published widely on the historical and contemporary Maori engagement with museums, including Exhibiting Maori: A history of colonial cultures of display (2007), Museums and Maori: Heritage professionals, indigenous collections, current practice (2011) and Museum practice: The contemporary museum at work (2015) in the series International Handbooks of Museum Studies. His latest book is Te Papa: Reinventing New Zealand's national museum 1998–2018 (2018).