Post #4: Repentance (Revised Statement of Topic)

My research question is, "How can African and Asian museums identify the European influences on their professional practices, techniques, and standards, deconstruct those influences, and form their own models of practice?" For the purposes of my research, I will define practices to include curation, exhibition design, interpretation, education, architectural design, and administration. For ideologies, I will include the valuation of art, selection of subject matter, judgement of what is appropriate to be preserved or accessioned, what should be displayed and how, and other topics. The ideologies of a museum inform its practices, and the standardization of practices can further endorse the ideologies. The themes I plan to explore in my research are European imperialism, globalization, and decolonization. In order to narrow the scope of my research, I will select one African or Asian museum to use as a case study. I will also examine global museum trends and trends within the country in which the case institution is located. The ideal case study candidate would be a museum that has a staff and administration that largely consists of people of color who are native to the country.

Sources:

• Ford, Caroline. “Museums after Empire in Metropolitan and Overseas France.” The Journal of Modern History 82, no. 3 (2010): 625–61. https://doi.org/10.1086/654828.

I will use this essay to research the relationship between French museums and museums in France's former colonies, including the socio-political tension created by French's possession of art acquired during the colonial period.

• Wandibba, Simiyu. "Museums in Africa." In Media and Identity in Africa, edited by Kimani Njogu and John Middleton, 245-57. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1r2b0x.24.

This text is a useful source for information about museums in pre-colonial Africa and the transformation to a European model during and after colonialism.

• Mawere, Munyaradzi, and Genius Tevera. “Zimbabwean Museums in the Digital Age: A Quest to Increase Museum Visibility in Public Space through Social Media.” In African Museums in the Making: Reflections on the Politics of Material and Public Culture in Zimbabwe, edited by Munyaradzi Mawere, Henry Chiwaura, and Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana, 247–68. Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, 2015. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9vwmh.13.

I will use this chapter to research how some African museums use engagement techniques compared to European museums.

• Mawere, Munyaradzi, and Tapuwa R. Mubaya. “‘A Shadow That Refuses to Leave’: The Enduring Legacy of Colonialism in Zimbabwean Museum Governance.” In African Museums in the Making: Reflections on the Politics of Material and Public Culture in Zimbabwe, edited by Munyaradzi Mawere, Henry Chiwaura, and Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana, 137–62. Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, 2015. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9vwmh.9.

The chapter will provide insight into how museums in Zimbabwe endeavor to decolonize their administrations in order to become socio-politically relevant to the Zimbabwean public, as well as tourists.