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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Susannah EckersleyORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This paper explores the discipline of Museum Studies considering its relationship to History. It addresses key differences between understandings of academic Museum Studies internationally, its distinction from museum practice, and interdisciplinary strengths. The paper is based on an extensive literature review, analysis, and reflections from 20 years of experience, both within the academic discipline of Museum Studies in the UK and of interdisciplinary, international, collaborative working across Europe. The paper argues that Critical Museum Studies as an ‘undisciplined’ or ‘disobedient’ academic field offers much of value for historians and those from other disciplines interested in understanding the role, influence and politics of museums, their impact on individuals and society. It also argues for the significance of Critical Museum Studies in offering diverse and rigorous means to analyse complex and contested uses of the past in, for and by contemporary society. The paper therefore contributes to the debates on the productive potential of interdisciplinarity for History, while emphasising the specific contributions of a critical Museum Studies, which are different from those of traditional Museum Studies, from studies of museums from other disciplines and from museum practice.
Author(s): Eckersley S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Rethinking History
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 09/01/2026
Acceptance date: 16/12/2025
Date deposited: 09/01/2026
ISSN (print): 1364-2529
ISSN (electronic): 1470-1154
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2025.2608393
DOI: 10.1080/13642529.2025.2608393
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