Museum Objects, Health And Healing
Issued Date
Copyright Date
2020
Resource Type
Edition
1
Language
Book
File Type
application/pdf
No. of Pages/File Size
217
ISBN
9781032088327
Author(s)
Abstract
study of the relationship between objects, health, and healing. light on the primacy of the human need for relationships with The book explores what kind of implications these relationships
night have on the exhibition experience.
ning museum and object studies, as well as psychotherapy and the
Joy of well-being, the authors present a new theory entitled Psytherapeutic Object Dynamics, which provides a cross-disciplinary study the relationship between objects, health, and well-being. Drawing on
imary research in museums, psychotherapeutic settings and professional practice throughout the US, Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the UK, the book provides an overview of the theory's origins, the breadth of its practical applications on a global level, and a framework for further understanding the potency of objects in exhibitions and daily life.
Table of contents
List of figures IX
Acknowledgments XI
Introduction 1
SECTION I
Our primal dialogue with objects 11
1 Ordinary portents 13
2 Object scholars and the literature 22
Guiding themes 23
3 The power of objects 54
Humanness 55 The universal 58
SECTION II
The theory of psychotherapeutic object dynamics 61
4 Creation of the theory 63
BRENDA COWAN
Encounters in the wild 65
Among the totems 72
renesis of the psychotherapeutic object dynamics 79
5 The theory and framework 79
Associating 81
Composing 82
Giving/receiving 83
Making 84
Releasing/unburdening 85
Synergizing 86
Touching 88
Psychotherapeutic object dynamics interrelationships 89
SECTION III
Therapeutic object practices in clinical and educational settings 91
6 The wilderness within 93
JASON MCKEOWN
Releasing heaviness 95/ Making and tending fire 97 /Beads, letters, and photographs 98 /ymbolic objects 101/ Natural sculptures 104 /The potential of therapeutic objects 105
7 Creativity and the true teacher 106
ROSS LAIRD
Inner and outer worlds 108/ Vulnerability and care 111 /Engagement and play 112 /Facilitation and attentiveness 112/ Empowered participants 114/ Emotional safety 116 /Inward and onward 117
SECTION IV
Health and healing in the museum setting 119
8 Seeing through a new lens: the empirical research 121
Criteria 121
Process and findings 124
9 The National September 11 Memorial & Museum 129/Overview of findings 130/Expressions of the dynamics 135
10 The War Childhood Museum 137
Overview of findings 137
Expressions of the dynamics 144
11 The Derby Museum and Art Gallery 149/Overview of findings 151 /Connection 152/Expressions of the dynamics 157
12 The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology)
Overview of findings 162/ Expressions of the dynamics 166
SECTION V Implications for museums 171
13 The museum-wellness connection 173
Therapeutic engagement in museum settings 174 /Supporting the museum community 177/Recommendations for therapeutic organizational development 179
14 Working with trauma, grief, and related challenges 185
Trauma 185/ Understanding the mechanisms of trauma 186 /Grief and loss 189 /Shame 190/ Intentional process and design 191 /Training and competency for museum research and
therapeutic activities 194
Conclusion
A living presence 196 Deconstructing silos, pursuing possibilities, and finding freedom 196 /Moving onward, deeply into, and farther beyond 198
References 201
Index 211