Read on Twitter
THREAD (a reading list for white museum folk, by non-white museum folk)
Some of my fellow white museum workers have shared that they discovered this @PorchiaMuseM's "Cartography: a Black woman’s response to museums in the time of racial uprising" via @MuseumNext's newsletter...
Some of my fellow white museum workers have shared that they discovered this @PorchiaMuseM's "Cartography: a Black woman’s response to museums in the time of racial uprising" via @MuseumNext's newsletter...
- which, don't get me wrong, great that MN is getting Dr. Moore's writing in front of more eyes - this piece should be mandatory reading for the entire museum sector. But I encourage you to read it where it was originally published, on @incluseum https://incluseum.com/2020/06/10/cartography-a-black-womans-response-to-museums-in-the-time-of-racial-uprising/
The Incluseum is dedicated to "advanc[ing] new ways of being a museum through dialogue, community building and collaborative practice related to inclusion in museums" & has been publishing on issues of the intersection of museums and race for years
I also recommend checking out this post, by @nikhiltri, @museum_matters & @JJonesRizziSMM on uncovering White Supremacy culture in museum work https://incluseum.com/2020/03/04/white-supremacy-culture-museum/
Black museum workers have been writing about museums' roles as (or avoidance of their roles as) sites of social justice for *ages* read up on @CollardStudies and @adriannerussell's work on #MuseumsRespondToFerguson, starting w their initial call for action https://adriannerussell.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/joint-statement-from-museum-bloggers-colleagues-on-ferguson/
More essential reading to wake up well-intentioned white museum workers, this time by @KayleighBinDC & hosted on the #MassAction blog: https://www.museumaction.org/massaction-blog/2020/6/12/waking-up-to-wokeness-actually-woke-is-over-its-time-to-do-the-work
It should go without say, reading the work of First Nations & Māori museum professionals is mandatory. @SaywhatNathan has been dismantling narratives of neutrality, white comfort and diversity via https://archivaldecolonist.com/ (not even going to share one post, just go read em all)
You could also read @MarikoCurates, on the need to tear down false, constructed settler histories: https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/first-nations/tear-it-down/
In Aotearoa, @PuawaiCairns has been unpacking the term 'decolonisation' and working to instead Indigenise museum spaces and practices: https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/author/puawai2011/
Zipping across the globe to the UK, you can read @SFKassim's https://mediadiversified.org/2017/11/15/the-museum-will-not-be-decolonised/, or if you prefer to listen that angle is covered too: https://vimeo.com/302162709
And speaking of listening, you can tune in to @TheWonderHouse to hear @littlegaudy's work uncovering histories of eugenics at UCL: https://thewonderhouse.co.uk/episode-1-subhadra-das-bricks-mortals
If you've read this far it should be crystal clear that I firmly believe that #MuseumsAreNotNeutral. Which is in itself a handy reminder to follow the work of co-founder @artstuffmatters - start w La Tanya's statement outlining the project: https://artstuffmatters.wordpress.com/2017/10/15/changing-the-things-i-cannot-accept-museums-are-not-neutral/
...and from there, if further reading is your jam, @artstuffmatters has also done a huge amount of work assembling a reading list on social justice and museums: https://twitter.com/artstuffmatters/status/929779705519267840?s=20
This little mini syllabus is just a start, from my open tabs to yours - you can also follow @EmpatheticMuse, @MuseumsandRace, @MuseumWorkers, @visitorsofcolor @museum_detox plus a whole host of writers I've likely missed out on.
My point: issues of White Supremacy culture & structural racism in the museum sector aren't new. Black, First Nations & POC workers have been working to uncover & deconstruct them *for years*. It's white museum workers' responsibility (me too) to follow, read & uplift their work
Already realised I've left something out - perhaps this thread is an ongoing one instead...? Follow
@museumhue and read this piece, on the need for museums to adopt anti-racist policies, from co-founder
@stephacunning: https://www.museumhue.com/blog/lets-face-it
@museumhue and read this piece, on the need for museums to adopt anti-racist policies, from co-founder
@stephacunning: https://www.museumhue.com/blog/lets-face-it
