Am I the Public I Think I Am? Understanding the Public Curriculum of Museums as "Complicated Conversation"

Abstract

Focused on the role of curriculum theory in museum education, this essay considers William Pinar's suggestion that curriculum be understood as a “complicated conversation.” An examination of The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center, offers an example of how museums might be viewed as authentic sites of “subjective and social reconstruction.” The author draws on Elizabeth Ellsworth's concept of “pedagogical address” as well as work in the field of rhetoric in order to explore the performative aspects of The Price of Freedom as a public curriculum.

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