Traditionally used to explain the process by which imperial powers retreated from their former colonies, in recent years ‘decolonisation’ has come to denote the complex process of confronting and addressing the legacies of colonialism within the imperial powers themselves. Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, often regarded as the nation’s story-tellers, have increasingly found themselves as the forefront of calls to ‘decolonise’ and address the enduring legacies of an imperialist past both within their own walls and through their role as public educators.

This workshop seeks to explore and further understand the role of museums in the decolonisation process by addressing the questions below:

• How do we define ‘decolonisation’ and what does this mean in practice for museums in the 21st century?

• How do we acknowledge institutions’ pasts and how that may have conditioned who they are and how they are perceived today?

• How did objects and artefacts come to be acquired and what does their provenance mean for their custodianship today? What stories do these collections tell? Whose voices are heard?

• What is the part to be played by museums and galleries in addressing issues of social injustice and different forms of discrimination today?

• What role do GLAMs play in furthering the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion agenda? 

Agenda

14:00 | Welcome and Opening Remarks

14:10 | Presentations by Speakers:

Tilly Blyth (Head of Collections and Principal Curator, Science Museum)

Emmanuel Kasarhérou, (Président, Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac)

André Delpuech, (Director, Musée de l’Homme)

14:40 | Responses from Chairs:

Prof. Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes (Université Paris Nanterre)

Dr Erica Charters (University of Oxford)

Prof. Andrew Thompson (University of Oxford)

14:55 Comfort Break

15:00 | Return for Group Discussion

15:50 | Closing Remarks and Reflections