Critical Realist Philosophy and the Possibility of an Eco-decolonial Museology

Abstract

New forms of museum practice that explore the dynamics of social and ecological processes as interlinked systems are increasingly urgent. Critical realist philosophy is used to consider the emergence of tensions between museological processes of decolonization and ecologization, and potentials for their resolution into a new form of practice, which is conceptualized as eco-decolonial. The analysis is focused on South African museums, but is contextualized within international theory and practice. An exploration of the ontology of museum work surfaces a core tension in that trends towards a relational and emancipatory practice are paradoxically embedded within neoliberal ideology. Neoliberalism depends on and perpetuates the problematic human-nature dualism of the colonial era, and constrains the development of progressive social-ecological forms of museum practice. The analysis explores potentials for the resolution of this tension, in a contribution towards the transformation of the philosophical and theoretical frameworks of museum practice.

Towards an Eco-decolonial Museology: A critical realist analysis of the crises of South African museums

“…The analysis makes use of abduction and induction as guided by the MELD framework introduced by Bhaskar (2008; also see Hartwig, 2008). Abduction refers to the recontextualisation of existing knowledge (Togo, 2016), and the work here draws in themes or codes from earlier work (Jeffery, 2017;Jeffery, 2021). An initial exploration of postapartheid South African heritage policy and museum practice (Jeffery, 2017), for instance, identified an absence of ecological issues from museum practice, generated by their absence from the policy framework, and highlighted a need to link ecological and decolonial concerns in order to bring about the emergence of meaningful transformations of museum practice.…”

“…An initial exploration of postapartheid South African heritage policy and museum practice (Jeffery, 2017), for instance, identified an absence of ecological issues from museum practice, generated by their absence from the policy framework, and highlighted a need to link ecological and decolonial concerns in order to bring about the emergence of meaningful transformations of museum practice. A deep 1M contextual analysis of the causal mechanisms of restrictions on postapartheid South African museum policy and practice (Jeffery, 2021) located contemporary South African museology in the context of emergent international museological trends. This is the basis for the 1M analysis conducted here.…”

“…The application of critical perspectives to the museum context is vital if museums are to remain socially relevant (Vergo, 1990;Smith, 2014). Vollgraaff's (2018) comprehensive survey of the South African Museums Association Bulletin identified an absence of socialecological themes and concluded that South African perspectives lag behind international museological thinking (also see Levitz & Mathers, 2000;Martin, 2000;Jeffery, 2017;Jeffery, 2021). This implies a need to develop the philosophical and theoretical perspectives that shape South African museum practice.…”

“…Socialecological relationality is the foundation of the eco-decolonial mode of museology. As was emphasised in previous work, this offers a fresh way of thinking in order to disrupt the persistence of human-nature dualism and to expand museological theory and practice to emphasise the relationship between humanity and the environment as mutually constructive (Jeffery, 2021).…”

“…Earlier work (Jeffery, 2021) introduced the idea of an ecological-decolonial, or ecodecolonial mode of museology. This is a new form of museum practice that disrupts traditional museological dualism by emphasising the interlinked dynamics of social and ecological processes mentioned above, and with potential to generate a relational mode of museological thinking and practice that is grounded in the entanglement of the decolonial (social) and ecological crises.…”