Decolonizing Museums: Toward a Paradigm Shift

Abstract

This review examines the discourses and practices that have produced a lively literature on museum decolonization created by scholars of museum practices and curators. We consider the trajectory of decolonization efforts in museums, focusing especially on the care of Native North American heritage, with comparison to similar trajectories internationally. We begin with a discussion of decolonizing moments in theory and practice, with particular attention to 1990s critique of ethnographic museums and developments after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Following this discussion is a review of works on concerns regarding Native American representation and public displays, involvement in collections care, and the varied collaborations that are changing museum practices. The final section foregrounds the fluorescence of tribal museums and their contributions to the decolonization and indigenization of museums, as well as emerging paradigm shifts in both the anthropology of museums and anthropology in museums. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Anthropology, Volume 52 is October 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Squaxin Island Museum Library and Research Center

“…Lonetree's (2012) work, like many other publications on this topic (e.g. Cobb, 2005;Wali and Collins, 2023), focus primarily on exhibition development, exhibit texts, and museum practices, with a focus on "decolonizing" museum practices, particularly mainstream museums.…”

Soaring to New Heights: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) within the Collections and Exhibits at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington

“…An effective method of combating the single-story narrative is to include multiple groups of individuals in the creation of museum exhibits or other areas like advisory boards and curatorial processes (Wali 2023). As time progresses and museums take on more decolonizing practices, they are often confronted with the reality that many exhibits are told from a Western perspective.…”

“…Another area within museums that can benefit from inclusion and decolonial practices is that of museum collections. Wali argues that it is in areas like collections care that true operationalization of decolonizing can occur in museums (Wali 2023). For many people, a museum's collection is the primary reason for visiting such places.…”