(Settler-colonial) night at the museum: Stephanie Anderson, ‘Museums, Decolonization, and Indigenous Artists as First Cultural Responders: A Case Study at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’, Museum & Society, 17, 2, 2019, pp. 173-192 | settler colonial studies blog

(Settler-colonial) night at the museum: Stephanie Anderson, ‘Museums, Decolonization, and Indigenous Artists as First Cultural Responders: A Case Study at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’, Museum & Society, 17, 2, 2019, pp. 173-192

24Jul19

Abstract: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) is part of a global movement of human rights-driven museums that commemorate atrocity-related events through exhibitions aimed at communicating a national social consciousness. At the same time, museums in Canada are increasingly understood as contributing to the perpetuation of settler colonial memory regimes through dominant narratives of national identity. Through the analysis of a unique exhibit titled Aboriginal Women and the Right to Safety and Justice, which relies on shared authority and nuanced Indigenous art form, this article explores how museums in settler colonial societies might represent difficult knowledge and act as sites of decolonization. The article posits that by breaking with conventional curatorial and display approaches, the exhibit serves to reduce the institution’s traditionally authoritative, nationalistic perspective and offers a model for enacting decolonization in museums across regions.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

%d bloggers like this: