Inclusive representation in museums rarely results in change because colonialism is ingrained in the very structures of these institutions, argues Kelli Morgan.
As expectations regarding the social responsibilities of art museums change, understanding the colonial foundations of the museum field is ever more crucial.
Recent studies show that progress toward genuine equity within art museums continues to be sluggish despite the field’s efforts to diversify staff and collections. This results from the fact that, historically, Western art museums developed as cultural repositories for colonialism. The essential difficulty is that the vast majority of art museum professionals have limited training in how to identify and address contemporary manifestations of this history.
Ideas from as early as the Divine Right of Kings to the Enlightenment have been used to justify European empire and its literal re-categorization of the world. We know the horrors of African enslavement and Indigenous genocide, but in the wake of both, European colonizers amassed a massive number of BIPOC cultural objects, which they subsequently built establishments to house and economic markets to support...Keep reading on Hyperallergic.
As expectations regarding the social responsibilities of art museums change, understanding the colonial foundations of the museum field is ever more crucial.
Recent studies show that progress toward genuine equity within art museums continues to be sluggish despite the field’s efforts to diversify staff and collections. This results from the fact that, historically, Western art museums developed as cultural repositories for colonialism. The essential difficulty is that the vast majority of art museum professionals have limited training in how to identify and address contemporary manifestations of this history.
Ideas from as early as the Divine Right of Kings to the Enlightenment have been used to justify European empire and its literal re-categorization of the world. We know the horrors of African enslavement and Indigenous genocide, but in the wake of both, European colonizers amassed a massive number of BIPOC cultural objects, which they subsequently built establishments to house and economic markets to support...Keep reading on Hyperallergic.