What do museums mean to people, and how have they changed throughout history? How do we move away from the dominant colonial narratives? Today, museums are perceived as both educational hubs and conservation centers that play a significant role in the safeguarding of cultures and histories, as well as crafting national identity. Museums welcome a large variety of visitors from students and children to adults and tourists. They teach us about culture through historical and contemporary artifacts, pieces, and stories of communities from around the world. However, museums are also symbols of colonialism, Western imperial expansion, and erasure.

Power, Colonization, and Early Museum Practices

“Museums are dangerous places because they control the storytelling.” – Moana Jackson

Museums and heritage sites have been given power and authority by society. With this authority, museums have the power to define and confine knowledge – to remember or forget histories. For Indigenous peoples, this includes historical erasure or silencing of their cultures or narratives. Museums themselves are intimately tied to the colonization process which involves invasion,  violence, and oppression.  

Museums were originally created to house the spoils of colonization. In the 16th century, European “Cabinets of Curiosity” held treasures from the Age of Exploration. These “wonder rooms” were inherently Western and colonial in nature as they were tied to the “discovery” of “new found worlds” by the Western empire. Homes and museums showcasing these displays functioned as a space for generally wealthy colonizers to claim artifacts as proof of their dominion over other cultures, and to claim their heritage as their own. This has had strong implications for national identity and efforts to build political legitimacy. In the words of art historian James Cuno, museums are “…used to tell the story of a nation’s past and confirm its present importance.”  These profound acts of cultural appropriation were deeply objectifying and demeaning to the people and cultures whose treasures the museums housed. Early museum displays presented the idea that “we [as peoples, communities, and cultures] are only what we made” and this sentiment is often still represented today. 

The 1980s brought along the birth of “new museology,” which involved a “radical assessment of the roles of museums in society” after many expressed dissatisfaction with the “old museology” practices. However, memory institutions like museums continue to predominantly present colonial perspectives of history as fact. The voices of marginalized peoples are excluded and museum narratives have remained biased. This bias is further illustrated by the fact that museums are predominantly white institutions. According to Lonnie G. Bunch III, “the museum field [is] awash in whiteness” and the limited presence of minorities within U.S. cultural institutions does not reflect the diversity of the U.S. general population. 

Deconstructing Systems of Bias: What Does it Mean to Decolonize?

“Is decolonization even possible, especially if the same tools and systems of colonization are employed in attempts to decolonize?” – Ijeoma Nnodim Opara

According to Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, “the decolonization movement itself needs to be decolonized.” The question then becomes: how do we make decolonization possible? The U.S. has not quite yet come to terms with or fully reckoned with its colonial past. This can be seen in the lack of education covering the colonial and imperial history of the U.S. According to director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum Melanie Adams, “the foundation of America was built on a lie.” “We the people” did not apply to everyone; instead, “we the free white men” would have more accurately portrayed the sentiment of the American founding fathers. Throughout history, the “land of opportunity” had few opportunities for people of color, barring certain races and ethnicities from immigrating to the U.S. This history is often not completely reflected in museums. And even when we see diversity, people of color are often mainly represented in racially or ethnic-specific institutions, like the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. 

But how do we go about changing this narrative? Many scholars and researchers have offered one word as the potential solution: decolonization. However, the meaning of decolonization is less clear. Some state that decolonization can be seen as a way to bring to light the histories of the colonized. But, white guilt leaves little room for genuine deconstruction, reflection, and relationship-building.

The Burke Museum on the University of Washington’s campus here in Seattle is one example of a museum generally making strides towards deconstructing systems of bias. Its mission statement  suggests that the Burke seeks to make itself a space for both healing and joy through the sharing of cultural and natural knowledge within the collections: “The Burke Museum cares for and shares natural and cultural collections so all people can learn, be inspired, generate knowledge, feel joy, and heal.” The Burke’s Artist Studio, for example, creates a space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists to allow them to research and create within the museum, and demonstrates that Indigenous art is alive and in constant creation rather than something of the past.

However, this is just one step in the right direction. To address their continuing legacy of colonialism and white supremacy, museums need to grow towards embodying other qualities like love, reciprocity, survival, resilience, and community strength. Such attributes are central to many cultures, and should be highlighted in museums especially in the context of the continued strength and resilience of Indigenous communities that were harmed by colonialism and imperialism. Allowing museum spaces to be more open can contribute to BIPOC communities having a voice in repatriation processes and how museums present history. It is crucial for genuine love, reciprocity, and care to be found within museums, not performative or guilt-driven platitudes that further contribute to the unequal power dynamics within museum spaces.

Decentering Whiteness and Dismantling Racism

Museums should and must be ethically bound to acknowledge the harm that they have caused to countless groups of people. The changes that need to be made are grounded in a code of ethics that should be an integral part of every institution or professional organization. According to professor of Museum Science and Heritage Management at Texas Tech University, Gary Edson, “An ethical museum is one in which all participants acknowledge the core values and where those values are discussed in the context of the museum’s mission.”

In order to decolonize museums, it is also important to create experiences that dismantle racism rather than putting it on display. Museums have to relearn ways of storytelling that decenter the institutional voice and allow others, particularly BIPOC communities, to tell their stories on their own terms. By challenging history and the dominant white colonial narrative, museums can move away from perspectives that have historically ignored or silenced BIPOC communities.

Sharing authority with BIPOC and local communities allows for people to tell their narrative and share the ways in which they wish to represent their cultures. In doing so, museums can begin to center intersectionality and interdependence between museums and BIPOC and local communities. Decolonization can be made possible in part by critically examining power dynamics since power is inherently tied to the process of colonialism. The dominant European American, white, and Western peoples of power need to take a step back and allow BIPOC communities to have agency through leadership in establishing narratives within museums. Using narratives outside of the dominant Western and white perspectives allows us to move away from narratives told through the eyes of the oppressor. It allows people of color to remain in the conversation rather than being ignored or made invisible. 

Looking to the Future of Museums: What Should They Represent?

Museums are not neutral spaces; they present political and social constructions of the world based on Western colonial views. It is important for us to be critical museum visitors who question how artifacts and pieces are acquired and why certain stories are told or forgotten. Visiting museums and memory institutions requires us to be critical of the narratives that are presented. We need to be aware of who the speaker is because their epistemology impacts the meaning behind their claims. Many museums are public institutions that exist for the benefit of the public. They have an ethical responsibility and duty to protect heritage by preserving their collections to be transferred from one generation to the next. In order to do so, museums must find an effective way to identify, preserve, and maintain heritage and advocate a standard of inclusiveness and truthfulness.

Since museums are predominantly white institutions that are inherently colonial in nature, it is critical that they support Indigenous communities in their efforts towards decolonization. Museums serve as educational forums for communities and the general public, and they can validate a community’s history and identity. Thus, they must prioritize Indigenous voices and perspectives in order to challenge stereotypical representations that are presented by museums. According to historian Bryony Onciul, recognizing Indigenous culture and heritage can even help these communities win land claims and treaty rights, and improve community life. 

Museums should represent places of healing for individuals, communities, and cultures that have been harmed by the process of collection by museums. Spaces within museums should be created for the purpose of healing and mutual understanding, and these spaces could provide opportunities for individuals and communities to grieve, heal, or connect with artifacts or pieces from their culture. Healing can also take place through the repatriation of cultural property, and by fostering dialogue and partnerships between museums and Indigenous and other BIPOC communities.

Furthermore, museums should emphasize truth-telling as opposed to presenting a white-washed version of history. The process of truth-telling involves speaking the truths about colonialism. Museums should not present narratives that glorify the age of exploration. Rather, they should show the consequences of Western expansion, colonialism, and imperialism. Museums need to emphasize Indigenous and cultural survival and self-determination. The Burke Museum, for example, does this in part by incorporating Indigenous and Native languages into exhibits, showing that Indigenous peoples remain resilient and present today.

Museums are constantly influencing and being influenced by sociocultural, economic, and political conditions within society. They have historically upheld the status quo, centering whiteness and settler colonialist narratives. We must make the settler colonial structure of museums and higher education visible. In order to do so, it is necessary to decenter whiteness through the process of decolonization. Decolonization is unsettling; it requires us to acknowledge our privilege and positionality. We, as individuals researching within a university in the United States, are privileged in our status as students, researchers, and leaders in our community. “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” There is no equivalent.

A special thank you to Dr. Alvin Logan, Rachael Tamngin, and Sumaya Bashir Mohamed for their collaboration and enthusiasm in sharing about the process of decolonization within museums and higher education. This article is written in tandem with a soon-to-be-published article about decolonial teaching and museum education.

Contact Currents’ Editor-in-Chief for access to:

Adams, M. A. (2017). Deconstructing systems of bias in the museum field using critical race theory. Journal of Museum Education, 42(3), 290-295.

Lonetree, A. (2012). Decolonizing museums: Representing Native America in national and tribal museums. Univ of North Carolina Press.

Onciul, B. (2015). Museums, heritage and Indigenous voice: Decolonizing engagement. Routledge.