{"id":1897,"date":"2017-12-11T15:28:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T21:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/?page_id=1897"},"modified":"2025-10-19T19:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T00:23:17","slug":"museums-and-difference","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Museums and Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Original Conference Program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 14 and 15, 2003<\/p>\n

Curators, scholars, students, and museum-goers from across the region, and as far away as New York, congregated in Milwaukee for the Center\u2019s major annual conference, \u201cMuseums and Difference,\u201d on November 14 and 15. They joined a distinguished group of speakers from around the U.S. and Europe for a day and a half of intense, lively discussion of the ways various categories of human difference shape, and are shaped by, the display practices, programs, and institutional politics of museums and related venues such as trade shows and worlds\u2019 fairs. The conference began on Friday afternoon in the Marianne and Sheldon B. Lubar Auditorium at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where participants were welcomed by the museum\u2019s director, David Gordon, and continued all day Saturday at 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Hefter Center.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Conference Program (cont’d)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Highlights of the conference included Friday afternoon\u2019s round-table discussion on current museum practice moderated by Nicholas Thomas, the well-known scholar and critic of Oceanic art and culture, with remarks from R\u00e9gis Michel of the Louvre, Norman Kleeblatt of the Jewish Museum, Brooke Anderson of the American Folk Art Museum, and William Truettner of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The conference key- note speaker Saturday morning, Tony Bennett, considered the contribution of the museum to social and scientific discourses regulating difference, with special reference to Victorian Britain. Papers, which were pre-circulated to allow for maximum discussion and exchange at the conference, covered such topics as the project for a new museum of non-Western art in Paris (N\u00e9lia Dias), the difficulty of establishing a museum of \u201cother\u201d cultures in Japan (Angus Lockyer), a new cross-cultural exhibition at the British Museum that strives to bridge the arts and ethnography (Lissant Bolton), the controversial \u201cBody Worlds\u201d exhibitions in contemporary Germany (Peter McIsaac), and museums based on the personal taste (Anne Higonnet) or off-beat sensibilities (Christopher Steiner) of their patrons. Current and former Center fellows Bettina Arnold, Leslie Bellavance, and Andrew Kincaid, as well as director Daniel Sherman, provided comments to orient the discussion at each session. Attendance was strong throughout the conference, approaching 90 at the museum and ranging from 60 to 75 at the Hefter Center. A book growing out of the conference papers is now in preparation.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Conference participants:
First row (left to right): Ira Jacknis, Alice Conklin, Andrew McClellan.
Second row: Anne Higonnet, Ren\u00e9e Green, Annie Coombes, Bettina Arnold, N\u00e9lia Dias, Lissant Bolton.
Third row: Mark Sandberg, Daniel Sherman, Peter McIsaac, Norman Kleeblatt, Nicholas Thomas, Angus Lockyer, Leslie Bellavance.
Fourth row: Robert Haywood, Andrew Kincaid, Tony Bennett, Christopher Steiner, William Truettner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The conference concluded with a brief tribute to Center executive director Carol Tennessen, who retires in June. This conference, like so many others before it, benefited from her tireless efforts and superb organizing skills. Many of the speakers thanked her and the Center\u2019s staff for their hard work in making the conference run so smoothly.<\/p>\n

Vicki Callahan (51ÁÔÆæ) wrote, \u201cthat was a wonderful conference with a great mix of folks \u2014 I haven\u2019t seen such a diverse group of academics at an event here in the two years I have been at 51ÁÔÆæ. . . . congratulations on a really interesting (and well run) event.\u201d
\nCenter fellow Aims McGuinness found the conference \u201ceasily the most rewarding event of its kind that I have encountered since I first set foot in Milwaukee . . . . The Hefter Center (and I\u2019m sure the Museum as well) has rarely (if ever) seen such smarts\u2014and such numbers.\u201d
\nLissant Bolton wrote, \u201cI enjoyed the conference greatly, and it gave me some things to think about, which is what one wants from such an occasion.\u201d
\nR\u00e9gis Michel called the conference \u201cmagnifique,\u201d adding, \u201cThe most difficult thing is to manage to create an atmosphere, which you succeeded so well in doing . . . It\u2019s very rare in such events to be able to communicate so freely and extensively.\u201d
\nAnd N\u00e9lia Dias thought the event \u201ca success from every point of view: the choice of speakers, the papers presented, the discussions, and all the care taken to make the conference a very agreeable and sociable space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 14 and 15, 2003 Curators, scholars, students, and museum-goers from across the region, and as far away as New York, congregated in Milwaukee for the Center\u2019s major annual conference, \u201cMuseums and Difference,\u201d on November 14 and 15. They joined …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":690,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":38,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"class_list":["post-1897","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nCenter for 21st Century Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Museums and Difference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 14 and 15, 2003 Curators, scholars, students, and museum-goers from across the region, and as far away as New York, congregated in Milwaukee for the Center\u2019s major annual conference, \u201cMuseums and Difference,\u201d on November 14 and 15. They joined …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for 21st Century Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-20T00:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2020\/02\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"773\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/\",\"name\":\"Museums and Difference - Center for 21st Century Studies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/359\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1-300x232.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-11T21:28:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-20T00:23:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/359\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/359\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":773,\"caption\":\"Original Conference Program\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/museums-and-difference\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Museums and Difference\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/\",\"name\":\"Center for 21st Century Studies\",\"description\":\"College of Letters & Science\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Center for 21st Century Studies\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/359\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Logo-with-white-back-and-no-border-e1754601293707.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/359\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Logo-with-white-back-and-no-border-e1754601293707.jpg\",\"width\":423,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Center for 21st Century Studies\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/c21\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Center for 21st Century Studies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Museums and Difference","og_description":"November 14 and 15, 2003 Curators, scholars, students, and museum-goers from across the region, and as far away as New York, congregated in Milwaukee for the Center\u2019s major annual conference, \u201cMuseums and Difference,\u201d on November 14 and 15. They joined …","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/","og_site_name":"Center for 21st Century Studies","article_modified_time":"2025-10-20T00:23:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":773,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2020\/02\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/","name":"Museums and Difference - Center for 21st Century Studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2020\/02\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1-300x232.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-11T21:28:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-20T00:23:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2020\/02\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2020\/02\/Museums-and-Difference-11.14-15.03-Schedule-Flyer-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":773,"caption":"Original Conference Program"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/museums-and-difference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Museums and Difference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/","name":"Center for 21st Century Studies","description":"College of Letters & Science","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/#organization","name":"Center for 21st Century Studies","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2025\/08\/Logo-with-white-back-and-no-border-e1754601293707.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/359\/2025\/08\/Logo-with-white-back-and-no-border-e1754601293707.jpg","width":423,"height":600,"caption":"Center for 21st Century Studies"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1897"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5813,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1897\/revisions\/5813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/c21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}