Breaking through the language barrier–bringing ‘dead’ languages to life through sensory and narrative engagement

Ancient inscriptions can be difficult to understand and off-putting to museum audiences, but they are packed with personal stories and vivid information about the people who made them. This article argues that overcoming the language barrier presented by these objects can offer a deep sense of engag...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Baker, A. (Author), Cooley, A. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
Description
Summary:Ancient inscriptions can be difficult to understand and off-putting to museum audiences, but they are packed with personal stories and vivid information about the people who made them. This article argues that overcoming the language barrier presented by these objects can offer a deep sense of engagement with the ancient world and explores possible ways of achieving this. It looks at examples of effective approaches from a range of European museums with a particular emphasis on bringing out the sensory, social, and narrative dimensions of these objects. It argues that inscriptions can change the way that museum visitors view the ancient world and empower them to interpret the past for themselves in new and creative ways. © 2018, © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ISBN:09647775 (ISSN)
DOI:10.1080/09647775.2018.1501601