Museums and Method Trade 14 May 2021 This is a term that recurs across museum exhibits describing historical relationships of economics, exchange and acquisition. However, the use of the term in museums to signal the commercial and…
Collections Technology 22 Apr 2021 At the simplest level, “technology” essentially means a “skilled process”. However, Eurocentric bias has meant that the term is overwhelmingly associated with Western narratives of continuing progress. If we can…
Indigenous studies Survivance 15 Apr 2021 Although this term has a long history, I want to focus here on how it has been employed and adapted by White Earth Anishinaabe writer and literary theorist, Gerald Vizenor.…
Politics and history Structure 2 Apr 2021 Previously we’ve looked at the term “structure” as it relates to settler colonialism - following Patrick Wolfe’s call to be attentive to how settlement is a social, political, economic and…
Collections Source Communities 23 Mar 202123 Mar 2021 Popularised by Laura Peers and Alison Brown in their edited reader, Museums and Source Communities, the term “source community” directly illuminates the relationship between originating communities and museums. Whilst the…
postcolonial theory Settler colonialism 3 Mar 20213 Mar 2021 Not all colonies are created in the same way. Whilst under imperial domination colonies are sustained and exploited to support the metropolitan centre, settler colonialism functions through an invasive structure…
Disciplines “Scientific” racism 27 Jan 202127 Jan 2021 Building on the discussion of science in the last post, today’s focus is on so-called “scientific” racism - a discredited body of thought that still seeks to use empiricism to…
Disciplines Science 13 Jan 202119 Jan 2021 At its core, science is a method of knowing and understanding based on empirical findings. When discussed in museums, science tends to be understood as a neutral enterprise, due to…
Museums and Method… Sacred/secret/sensitive 6 Jan 2021 These terms are increasingly being used by institutions to describe items in collections which hold particular resonance for source and descendant communities by virtue of their spiritual significance and/or importance…
repatriation Return 9 Dec 202019 Jan 2021 We’ve discussed the technicalities of terms like “repatriation” and “restitution”, but the urgent debates to address the colonial past (and its contemporary effects!) in museums point towards the need for…
The Decolonial Dictionary 