Posts
Decolonization
Hiding In Plain Sight: An exhibition showcasing America’s obsession with Native American iconography aims to start a new conversation.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2019 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. By most standards, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian …
The Hand of Native American Women, Visible at Last
The role of women art-makers in Native communities has gone widely ignored. Now a bold museum show, by and for these women, is shining a light on 1,000 years of their art. Sonya …
Taking Native Lands and Lives
Museums have power—the power to tell stories, shape narratives, and influence the lens we bring to bear on the past. That power can be harnessed for healing, as museums contribute to a …
“As Native Americans, We Are in a Constant State of Mourning”
The return of ancestors and artifacts can become a form of restorative justice. By Chip Colwell Dr. Colwell is an anthropologist and museum curator in Denver. In the early 1920s, the …
TrendsWatch 2019: Confronting the Past: The long, hard work of decolonization
This is one of the five trends from the 2019 TrendsWatch. Click here to read more about the full report. “Colonialism and imperialism have not settled their debt to us once they have …
Finding Resilience in Challenging Times
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of membership with the Alliance. Click here to learn more about membership! Museums must embrace …
What does it mean to decolonize a museum?
By Elisa Shoenberger In the past few years, museums across the US, Europe, and Australia are trying to tackle the challenge of decolonizing their institutions. However, the very meaning …
What New Year’s Resolutions Should Art Museums Be Making?
"If our museums are to begin to effectively address inequality, disempowerment, isolation, intolerance, climate change, we need to start at home-and with our workers." Seb Chan, Chief …
Listen to the Interns: The Importance of the “Budding Scholar” for Museum Decolonization
As a junior in college, I think I might have found my calling—for now anyway. For the past two and a half years I have been studying Art History, Museum Studies, and African American …
Museopunks Episode 32: Changing the Canon
Museum collections in established institutions come with long histories. So how do you change a museum’s canon? In this episode, we speak with Christopher Bedford, Dorothy Wagner Wallis …
Decolonisation: we aren’t going to save you
In today’s guest post, Head of Mātauranga Māori (Head of the taonga Māori collection) at Te Papa, Puawai Cairns (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Pūkenga) reflects on what …
A Roundup of Decolonization News
The popularity of last week’s guest post by Frank Howarth on decolonizing the museum mind prompts me to share a round-up of some of the stories I’ve been collecting on efforts to decolonize …