Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Recent calls to diversify and de-colonize museum spaces have led to the spread of participatory engagement and collaborative initiatives as practices for engaging diverse perspectives in the field. In this text I argue that such practices are ineffectual in inciting change in the museum field and ultimately re-inscribe the colonial histories they seek to subvert. I examine the emergence of these practices in relation to New Museology and James Clifford’s 1997 essay “The Museum as a Contact Zone” and hold them in tension with the history of museums as extensions of the state and agents of colonialism. Employing Nancy Leong’s theory of racial capitalism, I investigate the way racial difference and racialized identities are valued and commodified in museums as markers of social progressivism. Drawing from Julia Harrison and Kwame Nkrumah’s texts on neo-colonialism, I examine how participatory initiatives reproduce colonial narratives of transculturation and asymmetric resource exchange through practices of community consultation and collaboration. In critically examining the limitations and contradictions inherent to participatory engagement, I demonstrate the need for radical approaches to de-colonizing museology and imagine new models for reparative justice and authentic engagement in museums.