Museums and Social Justice

Catalog description

A recent spate of scandals, protests and a global pandemic have forced museums and heritage institutions to face up to some difficult ethical and financial issues. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, these include reassessments of staffing demographics, salary differentials, and discussions of how best to address racial and gender diversity in acquisition policies, permanent collection displays and exhibition schedules. The #MeToo movement has resulted in difficult conversations about sexual harassment and gender discrimination in museums as well. Other recent public controversies have demanded reevaluations of board vetting procedures to avoid reputational controversies, a more thorough review of corporate sponsors vis-a-vis a museum's mission, and the development of action plans to address the legacy of colonial theft and Nazi looting. Covid-19 has also greatly affected museums--attendance, annual budgets--and has resulted in mass layoffs and organizational restructurings, as museums are left to wonder about their financial viability moving forward. Also discusses whether museums have a moral responsibility to respond to and become engaged with compelling social justice issues like race, immigration, health care, climate change--or whether they should remain neutral. Indeed, the question of museums and social justice has plagued the museum world's preeminent professional organization, the International Council of Museums (ICOM), which, since 2017, has been attempting to redefine the museum as a site for public discourse on urgent topics; amidst debate and turmoil, a possible redefinition of museums of the 21st century as sites for social justice. Examines these current controversies and events. Each module focuses on one issue, with specific case studies in some instances.