Embedded Files
This project explores the material collections of selected museums in Alberta with the goal of calling attention to the ongoing presence of Indigenous visual and material culture.
This project explores the material collections of selected museums in Alberta with the goal of calling attention to the ongoing presence of Indigenous visual and material culture.
There are around 168 pioneer museums in Alberta. These sites are diverse, but they tend to focus on the material culture of settlers, telling stories about the past 250 years. Indigenous and other peoples are included in the stories told by these museums, but they are often sidelined in the stories, or associated with a distant past.
There are around 168 pioneer museums in Alberta. These sites are diverse, but they tend to focus on the material culture of settlers, telling stories about the past 250 years. Indigenous and other peoples are included in the stories told by these museums, but they are often sidelined in the stories, or associated with a distant past.
Through collaboration with scholars, students, artists, and museum workers, we can come to appreciate more fully the complexity of pioneer museums, engage with a wide range of audiences, and address such pressing issues as ongoing colonial legacies and Indigenous resistance and resilience. Founders, staff, and volunteers at each museum have shared their knowledge about their collections and communities. We have also conducted arts-based workshops at the museums and invited contemporary artists to respond to some of the spaces and objects. Our goal is to learn from these collaborations to develop strategies for unsettling pioneer narratives and telling new stories.
Through collaboration with scholars, students, artists, and museum workers, we can come to appreciate more fully the complexity of pioneer museums, engage with a wide range of audiences, and address such pressing issues as ongoing colonial legacies and Indigenous resistance and resilience. Founders, staff, and volunteers at each museum have shared their knowledge about their collections and communities. We have also conducted arts-based workshops at the museums and invited contemporary artists to respond to some of the spaces and objects. Our goal is to learn from these collaborations to develop strategies for unsettling pioneer narratives and telling new stories.
Small museums are sometimes disdained for their supposedly uneven displays and “unprofessional” exhibition and preservation methods. Yet such museums are not secondary to large, urban, funded museums. They are serious sites of knowledge production, able to transform both critical museum studies and museum practices. For instance, they offer important opportunities for both revealing and reshaping narratives about settler colonialism because they are less bureaucratic than larger museums, and often lack solidified policies that can prevent change.
Small museums are sometimes disdained for their supposedly uneven displays and “unprofessional” exhibition and preservation methods. Yet such museums are not secondary to large, urban, funded museums. They are serious sites of knowledge production, able to transform both critical museum studies and museum practices. For instance, they offer important opportunities for both revealing and reshaping narratives about settler colonialism because they are less bureaucratic than larger museums, and often lack solidified policies that can prevent change.
Page updated
Report abuse