Wrapping up

In this session we explored a first set of participatory methodologies used by different museum professionals to prioritize historically marginalized voices in museum processes.

The main objective of this week was to explore the implementation of different strategies and methodologies for sharing authority in the context of museum work. Through a wide range of activities and concrete case studies, you have been able to conduct an exploration of methods currently in use in museums around the world, such as oral history, action-based research, community-based inventorying, and other collaborative processes. Through different reflections, self-guided and peer-reviewed exercises you have also learned how to apply some of these collaborative methodologies within your own contexts.

Making use of different articles on inclusive practices, the session started by digging deeper into some of the pivotal principles used to develop collaborative programming, from inception, to implementation, to completion. You were presented with a critical examination of diversity work in museums and asked to reflect on how it can be used to further equity inside institutions. We went deeper to learn about the work the Women’s Museum in Denmark is doing “collecting diversity.” Through the writing of three museum professionals, you had the opportunity to learn concrete ways of actively being an ally for historically marginalized peoples. This article also provided you the opportunity to reflect on some of the guiding principles of allyship when doing diversity work in museums. This session also allowed you to become familiar with the concept of community-based research and how it can be used by museum professionals working with historically excluded and dispossessed communities. Additionally, you were prompted to develop a proposal for a community-based project, which you analyzed through a peer review activity. Through the voices of museum professionals in different parts of the world, you also saw how oral history can help us find different ways to rewrite exclusionary histories, to see and meaningfully integrate new ones. Sharing authority within oral history practice and other museum processes is a key principle for community ownership in museums. You also learned how conducting community-based inventorying to include intangible cultural heritage within museums interpretation and collections strategies can provide a new lens to understand objects, places and, more importantly, people and their cultures.

How many of the methodologies you have learned about during this session can support or enhance the work you do and why?