(Settler) Museums should educate (decolonising settlers): Kay Johnson, ‘Decolonising Museum Pedagogies “Righting History” and Settler Education in the City of Vancouver’, in Darlene E. Clover, Kathy Sanford, Lorraine Bell, Kay Johnson (eds), Adult Education, Museums and Art Galleries, Sense, 2016, pp. 129-140 | settler colonial studies blog

(Settler) Museums should educate (decolonising settlers): Kay Johnson, ‘Decolonising Museum Pedagogies “Righting History” and Settler Education in the City of Vancouver’, in Darlene E. Clover, Kathy Sanford, Lorraine Bell, Kay Johnson (eds), Adult Education, Museums and Art Galleries, Sense, 2016, pp. 129-140

13Nov16

Abstract: In his short story, Totem, Indigenous author Thomas King (1993) tells the strange tale of a Canadian museum director’s lost battle with the mysterious intrusion of noisy totem poles that refuse to allow their singing, chuckling, and other vocalising to be silenced. Yet historically, those in a dominant position have defined the space occupied by Indigenous peoples in Canadian museums. However, museums are increasingly engaged in processes of “contestation, negotiation, and reinvention” (Phillips, 2012, p. 22) and in recent decades, Indigenous struggles over narrative, representation, and authority have led to profound changes in museums.

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