Behind the Scenes at the Science Museum

Sharon Macdonald, Social Anthropology, University of Manchester

• 1 Admission: Going In 2 Cultural Revolution in South Kensington 3 A New Vision for the 21st Century: Rewriting the Museum 4 A ‘Hot Potato’ for a New Public: A ‘Flagship’ Exhibition on Food 5 ‘Reality Sets In’: Managing and Materialising Dreams (and Negotiating Nightmares) 6 Virtual Consumers and Supermarket Science 7 Opening and Aftermath: Ritual, Reviews and Reflection 8 The Active Audience and the Politics of Appropriation 9 Behind and Beyond the Scenes

'Macdonald's study makes an important contribution to the literature because it brings the communication circuit full circle ... this book is a welcome addition to the field, and a fascinating window into the rarely seen institutional workings of museums.'Science Education'Behind the Scenes at the Science Museum is a powerful ethnographic analysis of a major science exhibition that interrogates museum practices and applies the tools of social anthropology and organizational analysis to understanding the choices and constraints involved in the making of exhibits. Despite many calls for ethnographies of museums and cultural displays, Macdonald is among the very first to show how the complex process of exhibit making is truly contested terrain. Her account of audience response is among the most sophisticated available.'Ivan Karp , Emory UniversityStudies of culture and media have often stressed the gap between authorial intentions and audience experiences, but have rarely given this