Understanding the role of affect in producing a critical pedagogy for history museums

While the existence of uncritical exhibition practices that support nostalgic narratives about the past cannot be denied, this paper is focused on demonstrating both the existence of <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">critical</span> exhibitions and on explaining how they work. In particularly, this paper looks at the ways in which the production of affective, nonrational forms of experience aimed at inducing <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">a</span> heightened level of engagement on the part of visitors is being used to facilitate <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">a</span> more <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">critical</span> reflection on the relationship between past and present. My examples, drawn from curatorial practices in Australia dealing either with contact <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">histories</span> or <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">histories</span> of migration, will be used to explore how explicit forms of engagement with the senses in contemporary exhibition practices gesture toward not only <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">a</span> new <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">understanding</span> of the pedagogical <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">role</span> of <span class="ScopusTermHighlight">museums</span> but also to new forms of pedagogical practice.