Academic Terms

Ethnography

The systematic study and written description of a specific human culture, involving immersive, first-hand observation.

Ontology / Ontological

The philosophical study of being and reality; explores how different cultures experience different realities.

Pedagogy

The method, practice, and theory of teaching, particularly in how exhibits are designed to educate.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge; examines how we know what we know and what constitutes valid data.

Phenomenology

The study of conscious experience from the first-person point of view.

Agency

The capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own free choices.

Alterity

The state of being different; refers to how dominant cultures view minority cultures as 'the Other'.

Bricolage

The construction or creation of something from a diverse range of available things.

Cultural Relativism

The principle that beliefs and activities must be understood in terms of the individual's own culture.

Dialectic

A discourse between individuals with differing viewpoints aimed at establishing truth through reasoned argument.

Discourse

Refers to the ways language, concepts, and power dynamics shape our understanding of a topic.

Emic

An insider's perspective or understanding of a culture.

Etic

An outsider's perspective or understanding of a culture, often the researcher's viewpoint.

Ethnocentrism

Evaluating other cultures by the standards of one's own culture.

Habitus

Deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions formed by life experiences, as popularized by Pierre Bourdieu.

Hegemony

The dominance of one group over others, so normalized that it becomes accepted as common sense.

Intersectionality

The interconnected nature of social categorizations that create overlapping systems of disadvantage.

Liminality

A state of transition or being 'in-between,' often related to rites of passage.

Materiality

The physical properties of artifacts and how they influence human behavior.

Praxis

The process of enacting a theory or lesson in practice.

Reflexivity

A researcher's awareness of their own biases and influences on the research process.

Subaltern

Populations that exist outside the hegemonic power structure.

Syncretism

The amalgamation of different religions or cultures.

Assemblage

A group of different artifacts found in association with one another.

Bioturbation

The disturbance of sedimentary deposits by living organisms.

Context

The spatial and temporal association of artifacts; primary context indicates no disturbance, while secondary means it was moved.

Dendrochronology

The scientific method of dating tree rings to the exact year they were formed.

Feature

A non-portable artifact like hearths or postholes.

Lithics

Stone tools or the debris from making them.

Midden

An archaeological term for a trash heap or refuse deposit.

Paleoethnobotany

The study of relationships between people and plants through the archaeological record.

Provenience

The exact location where an artifact was found during an excavation.

Seriation

A dating method that places artifacts in chronological order based on changing styles.

Sherd (vs. Shard)

A sherd is a broken piece of ceramic; a shard is broken glass or metal.

Stratigraphy

The study of rock layers and the layering process in archaeology.

Taphonomy

The study of how organisms decay and become fossilized.

Typology

The classification of objects based on physical characteristics.

Zooarchaeology

The study of animal remains found on archaeological sites.

Accessioning

The formal process of accepting an item into a museum's permanent holdings.

Cataloging

The process of creating a descriptive record for an object in a collection.

Deaccessioning

The process of permanently removing an item from a museum's collection.

Decolonization (Museum Context)

The process of examining and dismantling colonial power structures in museums.

Didactic

Educational or instructional materials used in museums to explain exhibits.

Docent

A trained volunteer who provides educational tours to museum visitors.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Practices and expressions recognized as part of cultural heritage.

Material Culture

Physical objects, resources, and spaces that define culture.

Museology

The science or profession of museum organization and management.

NAGPRA

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, requiring repatriation of Native American cultural items.

Nomenclature

A standardized system of naming objects used in database management.

Preventive Conservation

Actions taken to slow the deterioration of objects in a collection.

Provenance

The chronology of ownership or location of a historical object.

Repatriation

The process of returning cultural artifacts to their place of origin.

Stakeholder

Anyone with an interest in the museum and its collections.