- Decolonizing the Museum

Catalog description

This course critically analyzes the history of Western museums and their impacts on contemporary museum practices in the U.S. via a decolonial lens. Our goal is to examine the impact of the history and legacy of colonization on museums, so we can delink museum practices from Western hierarchies and systems of power. Throughout the course, students will interrogate the purpose of early versions of exhibition spaces, why museums were created, and how knowledge was produced. They will interpret museum architecture and how this may impact a museum’s identity and ideas of inclusivity and exclusivity. They will examine how objects were collected to be part of museums' collections, who was impacted by these practices, and how collection practices have evolved or come to terms with difficult histories. They will analyze the layout of different types of museums and learn how exhibitions are put together while analyzing issues of hierarchy, representation, and biases. We will especially examine collections and exhibitions that attempt to center underrepresented communities in the U.S., including black, indigenous, and people of color.