Special Feature: "Decolonizing Museums in Practice" - Part 2 (Stories and Objects)

Anthropological Airwaves

In this two-part special feature we think with the Museum Ethnographer's Group conference "Decolonizing the Museum in Practice", held in April of this year . The second part focuses on the stories and objects around which much decolonizing work revolves and features a read paper by JC Niala and an interview with Laura Peers. Niala relates to us a story that illustrates, among many other insights, what is lost when indigenous perspectives are not included or even considered in museum exhibits; Peers shows us what the process of building relationships between museums and indigenous communities might look like and the challenges that must be overcome to successfully share access to and ultimately governance of museum collections. Hosted by Deborah Thomas and with interviews conducted by Chris and Cassandra Green, this two-part series on “decolonizing museums” examines the past, present, and future(s) of museum practice. Given often sordid collection histories and the strained at best or non-existent at worst relations that museums have had with communities of origin, these interviews address how we might face head-on the legacies of colonialism and empire. Full episode transcript.

Image Caption: The central gallery of the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University, UK. View from the upper mezzanine showing the gallery length-wise. The many glass cases containing artifacts from all over the world on and around the ground floor are clearly visible, while two people look on in the lower foreground.

Credits:

Introduction/Conclusion: Deborah Thomas

Interviewer: Chris Green

Recorder: Cassandra Green Producers: Kyle Olson and Nooshin Sadegh-Samimi

Assistant Producer: Chris Green

Featured Audio:

Gingee - "Decolonize your Mind"

The University of Oxford - "Inside the Pitt Rivers Museum"

Decolonize This Place - "Anti-Columbus Day: Decolonize This Museum"

"Singing Haida Song" with Raven and Alex