Abstract
Museums worldwide are public assets that all residents fund, directly and indirectly, through local and national subsidies. And today there are over 35,000 museums in the United States (US), a number that has doubled since the 1990s. Schoolchildren are a primary, and often the largest, museum audience in the US and many locations. Still, despite their prevalence, public responsibility, and potential to support learning, many museums are underused. For example, in the US, visitation is low overall for people of color, with African Americans engaging with museums less than other groups. Further, research, such as that conducted by The Visitors of Color Project, reveals that marginalized groups—a majority of public-school students in the most populated areas of the US—may experience cultural institutions as uncomfortable, even hostile spaces. This paper draws on social museology and Paulo Freire’s “problem-posing” pedagogy, to argue that by directly addressing museums’ difficult histories and current practices, teachers can counter alienation and support students’ critical explorations of the world. Further, this presentation suggests that, as storehouses of culture and history, museums can be rich sites of popular and political education for learners of all ages and powerfully support teaching for justice and social action. The paper shares examples and resources for classroom-and museum-based educators, with topics including Indigenous science, racial and disability justice, disability access as a tool, exhibits and collections as agents of social change, decolonization as a verb, celebrating LGBTQ lives and cultures in museums, organized labor in cultural institutions, and more.
Presenters
Therese QuinnProfessor and Director of Museum and Exhibition Studies, Museum and Exhibition Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Educators, Justice, Social Museology, Diversity, Activism
