Brita Brenna

Image of Brita Brenna
Norwegian version of this page
Phone +47 22856932
Mobile phone +47 90 93 78 36
Room 436 PAM
Username
Visiting address IKOS P. A. Munchs hus 3. og 4. etg. Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 0371 OSLO
Postal address Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 Oslo

Background and research interests

My main interests lie at the intersection between material culture and history of knowledge. I am interested in the interconnectedness of collection, display and scientific practices. I have worked with the connection between landscape representations and science in the 18th century, international exhibitions in the 19th century, and on a contemporary basis on natural and cultural histories are produced and displayed - in exhibitions and museums and the society at large. 

Theoretically and methodically I have been interested in feminist science studies, new materiality studies, and science and technology studies.

I did my undergraduate studies in political science and history of ideas, and received my Cand. philol. (MPhil) in history of ideas in 1994 at the University of Oslo. I completede my Dr.art.(PhD) at Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo in 2002. During the years 2002-2007 I worked as a researcher and post.doc. at the same institution. I have had shorter visits at CSI in Paris 4 months 1998, been a visiting post.doc. 5 months at Max Planck Institut für Wissenshcaftsgeschichte, Berlin in 2005, and a visiting scholar at HPS Cambridge for four months in 2009.

Teaching and tutoring

I am head of the Museology programme at IKOS, and teach first and foremost Museology and Museum Studies, but also history of knowledge more broadly with an emphasis on practice and materializations. 

Appointments

  • Deputy leader of the board of the University Museum and Academy of Arts at the University of Tromsø 2017-2023
  • Member of the board of Valdresmusea 2018 - 
  • Member of the board of Anno Museum AS 2012-2017
  • Chief editor for the journal Nordisk museologi/Nordic Museology 2013 - . Country editor 2010-2012.
  • Head of National Academic Board for Cultural History, Cultural Science and Museology 2012-2018
  • Member of the Institute board of IKOS 2009-2012
  • Member of steering group for MusForsk, a research initiative for museums funded by The Arts Council of Norway 2009-2012
  • Expert member of MusVit, a museological research initiative by Norwegian University Museums, funded by the Norwegian Research Council 2009-2010.
  • Board member for Norsk Selskap for 1700-tallsstudier/Norwegian Society for 1700 century studies 2008-2011, 2021-2023.
Tags: Museums and Museology, Cultural history, Nature and the natural, History of Science

Publications

  • Christensen, Hans Dam; Brenna, Brita & Staff, Björn Magnussen (2022). A concise history of museums in Scandinavia. In Hvenegaard Rasmussen, Casper; Rydbeck, Kerstin & Larsen, Håkon (Ed.), Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Transition: Changes, Challenges, and Convergence in a Scandinavian Perspective. Routledge. ISSN 9781032033648.
  • Colbjørnsen, Terje; Brenna, Brita & Edquist, Samuel (2022). Curating collections in LAMs. In Hvenegaard Rasmussen, Casper; Rydbeck, Kerstin & Larsen, Håkon (Ed.), Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Transition: Changes, Challenges, and Convergence in a Scandinavian Perspective. Routledge. ISSN 9781032033648.
  • Brenna, Brita & Hauan, Marit Anne (2022). Museologi, universitetsmuseer og aktivisme for ettertiden. Ottar. ISSN 0030-6703. 1, p. 27–34.
  • Jordheim, Helge; Op de Beke, Laura; Bjordal, Sine Halkjelsvik; Zuiderveen Borgesius, Leonoor; Brenna, Brita & Flatø, Emil Henrik [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2022). Fossilization, or the matter of historical futures . History and Theory. ISSN 0018-2656. 61(1), p. 4–26. doi: 10.1111/hith.12250.
  • Pierroux, Palmyre; Bäckström, Mattias; Brenna, Brita ; Gowlland, Geoffrey & Ween, Gro Birgit (2020). Museums as Sites of Participatory Democracy and Design. In Hetland, Per; Pierroux, Palmyre & Esborg, Line (Ed.), A History of Participation in Museums and Archives. Traversing Citizen Science and Citizen Humanities. Routledge. ISSN 9780367186715. p. 27–45.
  • Brenna, Brita & Skåden, Kristina (2019). Kompetanse, kritikk og kulturarv. In Lindqvist, Katja (Eds.), Kompetens i museisektoren. Politik, praktik och relationen till högre utbildning. Nordic Academic Press. ISSN 978-91-88909-14-5. p. 255–270.
  • Brenna, Brita ; Hamran, Olav & Christensen, Hans Dam (2019). Museums as Cultures of Copies. Introduction. In Brenna, Brita Astrid Staxrud; Christensen, Hans Dam & Hamran, Olav (Ed.), Museums as Cultures of Copies. The Crafting of Artefacts and Authenticity. Routledge. ISSN 9780815364917. doi: 10.4324/9781351106498-1.
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Contact, Copy and model in eighteenth- century Trondheim. In Brenna, Brita Astrid Staxrud; Christensen, Hans Dam & Hamran, Olav (Ed.), Museums as Cultures of Copies. The Crafting of Artefacts and Authenticity. Routledge. ISSN 9780815364917.
  • Brenna, Brita (2018). Museums and museologies in Norway. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152. p. 111–118. doi: 10.5617/nm.6403. Full text in Research Archive
  • Brenna, Brita (2018). Skeive utstillinger, rette linjer og fullpakkede perspektiver. In Hauan, Marit Anne & Brenna, Brita Astrid Staxrud (Ed.), Kjønn på museum. Museumsforlaget AS. ISSN 9788283050608. p. 67–83.
  • Hauan, Marit Anne & Brenna, Brita (2018). Museumskjønn? In Hauan, Marit Anne & Brenna, Brita (Ed.), Kjønn på museum. Museumsforlaget AS. ISSN 9788283050608. p. 9–23.
  • Eriksen, Anne; Brenna, Brita Astrid Staxrud & Mo, Gro Bjørnerud (2017). Theorizing Copies. Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research. ISSN 2000-1525. 9(1), p. 1–5. doi: 10.3384/cu.2000.1525.17911. Full text in Research Archive
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Samlingens poesi. Tidsskrift for kulturforskning. ISSN 1502-7473. p. 37–49.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Museumsmaterialiteter : ingenting, mange ting og ting som skaper historie. Arr - Idéhistorisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7005. 28(1), p. 63–71.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). "Museumsmaterialiteter Ingenting, mange ting og ting som skaper historie". Arr - Idéhistorisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0802-7005. p. 63–71.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). "Kvalitet og deltakelse i museer". In Eliassen, Knut Ove & Prytz, Øyvind (Ed.), Kvalitetsforståelser. Kvalitetsbegrepet i samtidens kunst og kultur.. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 978-82-7081-179-3. p. 36–52.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2015). "Monterhistorier". Vitark: Acta archaeologica Nidrosiensia. ISSN 1501-6099. 9, p. 138–146.
  • Brenna, Brita (2014). Nature and texts in glass cases: The vitrine as a tool for textualizing nature. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies. ISSN 1894-4647. 2(1).
  • Brenna, Brita (2013). The Frames of Specimens: Glass Cases in Bergen Museum Around 1900. In Thorsen, Liv Emma; Rader, Karen & Dodd, Adam (Ed.), Animals on Display. The Creaturely in Museums, Zoos, and Natural History. Penn State University Press. ISSN 978-0-271-06070-5. p. 37–57.
  • Hvattum, Mari; Brenna, Brita; Gjesvik, Torild & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (2013). The King’s Road: Constructing the National Landscape. In Aukrust, Kjerstin (Eds.), Assigning Cultural Values. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISSN 9783631632987. p. 209–233.
  • Brenna, Brita (2013). Landskapets tilsynekomst, Tingenes tilsynekomster. Kulturproduksjon, materialitet og estetikk. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-731-2.
  • Brenna, Brita (2012). Gjort er gjort. In Maurstad, Anita & Hauan, Marit Anne (Ed.), Museologi på norsk. Universitetsmuseenes gjøren. Akademika forlag. ISSN 978-82-519-2888-5. p. 231–237.
  • Brenna, Brita (2012). Furnishing with landscapes (oversatt fra norsk). In Høyum, Nina Frang & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (Ed.), Views. Norway Seen from the Road 1733-2020. Forlaget Press. ISSN 978-82-7547-591-4. p. 12–19.
  • Brenna, Brita (2012). Om å innrede med landskaper. In Høyum, Nina Frang & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (Ed.), Utsikter. Norge sett fra veien 1733-2020. Forlaget Press. ISSN 978-82-7547-553-2. p. 12–19.
  • Brenna, Brita (2012). Natures, Contexts, and Natural History. Science, Technology and Human Values. ISSN 0162-2439. 37(4), p. 355–378. doi: 10.1177/0162243912439759.
  • Brenna, Brita & Supphellen, Steinar (2012). Science, sociability, and the tools of Enlightenment - Johan Ernst Gunnerus and the Trondheim milieu. In Jakobsen, Rolv Nøtvik (Eds.), Aspects of Johan Ernst Gunnerus' life and work. Akademika forlag. ISSN 978-82-519-2688-1. p. 1–21.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Vaser, vulkaner og Hamiltons begjær. Agora. ISSN 0800-7136. p. 95–106.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). "King of the Road: Describing Norwegian Landscapes in the Eighteenth Century". In Hvattum, Mari; Brenna, Brita; Elvebakk, Beate & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (Ed.), Routes, roads and landscapes. Ashgate. ISSN 978-1-4094-0820-8. p. 13–26.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Materielle forbindelser: En natursamlende biskop og hans ordning av verden. In Naguib, Saphinaz Amal & Rogan, Bjarne (Ed.), Materiell kultur & kulturens materialitet. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-630-8. p. 21–40.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Clergymen Abiding in the Fields: The Making of the Naturalist Observer in Eighteenth-Century Norwegian Natural History. Science in Context. ISSN 0269-8897. 24(2), p. 143–166. doi: 10.1017/S0269889711000044.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Dilettantisme og disiplin. Det lærde miljø rundt opprettelsen av Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab. In Federhofer, Marie-Theres & Hodacs, Hanna (Ed.), Mellom pasjon og profesjonalisme. Dilettantkulturer i skandinavisk kunst og vitenskap. Tapir Akademisk Forlag. ISSN 978-82-519-2586-0. p. 33–60.
  • Brenna, Brita (2010). Tidligmoderne samlinger. Fra det kuriøse til det normale. In Rogan, Bjarne & Amundsen, Arne Bugge (Ed.), Samling og museum. Kapitler av museenes historie, praksis og ideologi. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-610-0. p. 27–40.
  • Amundsen, Arne Bugge & Brenna, Brita (2010). Museer, kritisk museologi og tverrfaglige museumsstudier. In Rogan, Bjarne & Amundsen, Arne Bugge (Ed.), Samling og museum. Kapitler av museenes historie, praksis og ideologi. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-610-0. p. 9–23.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). Negotiating the History of the World. In Eriksen, Anne & Sigurdsson, Jon Vidar (Ed.), Negotiating Pasts in the Nordic Countries. Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Memory. Nordic Academic Press. ISSN 9789185509331. p. 121–149.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Light in the Periphery". In Andersen, Haakon With; Brenna, Brita; Njaastad, Magne & Wale, Astrid (Ed.), Æmula Lauri. The Royal Scientific Society of Sciences and Letters 1760-2010. Watson Publishing International. ISSN 978-0-88135-383-9. p. 3–20.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Science and Sociability". In Andersen, Haakon With; Brenna, Brita; Njaastad, Magne & Wale, Astrid (Ed.), Æmula Lauri. The Royal Scientific Society of Sciences and Letters 1760-2010. Watson Publishing International. ISSN 978-0-88135-383-9. p. 21–42.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Scientific Sites and Specimen". In Andersen, Haakon With; Brenna, Brita; Njaastad, Magne & Wale, Astrid (Ed.), Æmula Lauri. The Royal Scientific Society of Sciences and Letters 1760-2010. Watson Publishing International. ISSN 978-0-88135-383-9. p. 43–74.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Prizes, Patriots and Scientific Texts". In Andersen, Haakon With; Brenna, Brita; Njaastad, Magne & Wale, Astrid (Ed.), Æmula Lauri. The Royal Scientific Society of Sciences and Letters 1760-2010. Watson Publishing International. ISSN 978-0-88135-383-9. p. 76–100.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). Hva gjør museologi? Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152. p. 63–75.
  • Brenna, Brita (2008). "Probable Creatures - a Commentary". Tidsskrift for kulturforskning. ISSN 1502-7473. 7(3), p. 22–24.

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  • Brenna, Brita Astrid Staxrud; Christensen, Hans Dam & Hamran, Olav (2019). Museums as Cultures of Copies. The Crafting of Artefacts and Authenticity. Routledge. ISBN 9780815364917. 274 p.
  • Brenna, Brita ; Christensen, Hans Dam & Hamran, Olav (2018). Museums as Cultures of Copies The Crafting of Artefacts and Authenticity, 1st Edition. Routledge. ISBN 9780815364917. 274 p.
  • Hauan, Marit Anne & Brenna, Brita (2018). Kjønn på museum. Museumsforlaget AS. ISBN 9788283050608. 228 p.
  • Hauan, Marit Anne & Brenna, Brita Astrid Staxrud (2018). Kjønn på museum. Museumsforlaget AS. ISBN 9788283050608. 228 p.
  • Hvattum, Mari; Brenna, Brita; Elvebakk, Beate & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (2011). Routes, roads and landscapes. Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-0820-8. 248 p.
  • Andersen, Haakon With; Brenna, Brita; Njaastad, Magne & Wale, Astrid (2009). Æmula Lauri. The Royal Scientific Society of Sciences and Letters 1760-2010. Watson Publishing International. ISBN 978-0-88135-383-9. 400 p.

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  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Feltarbeid på Svalbard.
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Arv i naturkultur- perspektiv: Kvar vart det av naturen i dei kulturhistoriske musea? .
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). The naturecultures of fieldwork in the Arctic: An exploration of history, contemporaneity and heritage approx. 1910 – 2019. .
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Topografenes feltarbeid. .
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Svalbard: On-the-Edge-of-Time, Outside-of-Time, or Simply Thin Time. Paper In sync International Colloquium 27-29 mai.
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Doing keeping and finding time in Arctic fieldwork. Paper SIEF conference Santiago de Compostella, April 15.
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Kvifor verne natur og kultur? .
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). On the newness of the world and the rythms of matter. Reading Erik Pontoppidan’s A Treatise of the Novely of Worlds from 1757. .
  • Ween, Gro Birgit & Brenna, Brita (2019). Naturecultures of Heritage. .
  • Brenna, Brita (2019). Høytidsforedraget 2017: Vitenskap i Gunnerus' tid. In Thomsen, Tina Skjærvik; Overskaug, Kristian & Røskaft, Merete (Ed.), Årbok 2018 fra Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab. Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab. ISSN 9788293175506. p. 67–74.
  • Brenna, Brita (2018). Preface. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152. p. 1–2.
  • Brenna, Brita (2018). An imagined community. Twenty-five years of Nordic Museology. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152. p. 1–4.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Humaniora: En museumshistorie. Samtiden. ISSN 0036-3928.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Materialiteten som møtested.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Kommentar: Hvordan kan kunnskapen brukes?
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Hva gjør gjenstandene i og med historien?
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Model-work in the Eighteenth Century.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). I en sofa på arkivet. Samer på utstilling. Samtale.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Glass cases.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Museum og kvalitet.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). «Framtidas museum». Sett i lys av historien: hvordan kan museene være relevante for dagens og fremtidens publikum?
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Still Life in the Collection. How to study circulation – and inertia – in Norwegian 18th century collections?
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Vores museum. Åpning Ragnarock.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Two fishes and a society in a box.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Montre, museologi og materialitet.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Er det immaterielle den egentlige kulturarven?
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2016). Museum, kvalitet og deltakelse. Presentasjon.
  • Brenna, Brita Staxrud (2015). Vitrine history. How the glass case was made to matter in museums around 1900.
  • Brenna, Brita (2015). Forord. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152.
  • Brenna, Brita (2014). Forord. In Olsrud, Janne Werner & Snekkenes, Christine (Ed.), Museologer på museum - Fra undring til kunnskap. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-786-2.
  • Brenna, Brita & Axelsson, Bodil (2014). Forord. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152.
  • Brenna, Brita (2014). Forord. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152.
  • Brenna, Brita; Tøndborg, Britta & Silven, Eva (2013). Forord. Nordisk Museologi. ISSN 1103-8152. p. 1–2.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Performing bodies through glass cases. Moving exhibitionary techniques between natural and cultural museum exhibits around 1900.
  • Brenna, Brita & Brandt, Thomas (2011). Vitenskapens nytte i 250 år. Fra Opplysningstidens viten til ingeniørvitenskap i Trondheim.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). King of the Road.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). The World Classified.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Monter, museumsgjenstand og museal motstand.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Cartographies of self and other: Classifying materiality and culture at the International Exhibitions, World's Fairs and Expositions Universelles.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). En kunnskapsby bygges. Anmeldelse av Turbulens og tankekraft av Thomas Brandt og Ola Nordal. Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Brenna, Brita (2011). Om museologi. [Radio]. SENT: Teknisk museum 23. november/Ekko:Viten .
  • Hvattum, Mari; Brenna, Brita; Elvebakk, Beate & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (2011). "Routes, Roads and Landscapes". In Hvattum, Mari; Brenna, Brita; Elvebakk, Beate & Larsen, Janike Kampevold (Ed.), Routes, roads and landscapes. Ashgate. ISSN 978-1-4094-0820-8. p. 1–9.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Visuell uttrykksform".
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). Hukommelsesmaskiner og politiske maskiner.
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Production of outstanding natures Norwegian landscape depictions and descriptions in the 18th century".
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "A naturalist bishop and a church-scientific society. The Royal Norwegian Society of Science in the 18th century".
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Landskap i kongens fotspor".
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Roads and landscapes".
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "Tools, tours, and views: Visualizing Norwegian nature in the 18th century".
  • Brenna, Brita (2009). "A naturalist bishop in the making: A biographical sketch of Johan Ernst Gunnerus".
  • Brenna, Brita (2008). Probable creatures a commentary. Tidsskrift for kulturforskning. ISSN 1502-7473. 7(3), p. 22–24.
  • Næss, Christina Ådland; Brandt, Thomas & Brenna, Brita (2022). Museal materializations of the past. The characteristics and agencies of contemporary exhibitions of prehistory. Norwegian University of Science and Technology. ISSN 2703-8084. 2022(xx).
  • Jørgensen, Guro; Brenna, Brita ; Eliassen, Knut Ove & Næss, Robert (2021). SAKER SOM BEVEGER. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet: Et universitetsmuseum som kategori, arbeidssted og formidlingssted . NTNU. ISSN 978-82-326-5583-0.
  • Fonneland, Trude; Brenna, Brita ; Glørstad, Håkon; Andersen, Ketil Gjølme; Christiansen Dam, Hans & Pousette Larsson, Helene [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2020). Vilje til forskning - museumsforskning i Norge i det 21. århundre. Rapporten er levert av utvalg for museum og forskning. Kulturdepartementet.

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Published June 24, 2010 12:21 PM - Last modified Sep. 26, 2023 8:31 PM