Negotiating Race and Rights in the Museum traces the evolution of pervasive racial ideas, and ‘post-race’ allusions, over more than a century of museum thinking and practice. Drawing on the illuminating history of the Smithsonian Institution, this book offers an account of how museums have addressed and renegotiated wider calls for inclusion, ‘self-definition’, and racial justice, in ways that continually re-centre and legitimise the White frame. Charting the emergence of ‘post-race’ ideas in museums, Bunning demonstrates how and why ‘culturally specific’ approaches have been met with suspicion and derision by powerful museum stakeholders against the backdrop of a changing United States of America, just as they have offered crucial vehicles for sectoral change. This study of the evolution of racial ideas in response to Black empowerment highlights deeply entrenched forms of White supremacy that remain operative within the international museum sector today, and serves to reinforce the urgent calls for the active disruption of racist ideas and the redesign of institutions. Negotiating Race and Rights in the Museum will appeal to those working in the international fields of museum and heritage studies, cultural studies, and American studies, and all who are interested in the production of racial ideas and White supremacy in the museum.

Negotiating Race and Rights in the Museum traces the evolution of pervasive racial ideas, and ‘post-race’ allusions, over more than a century of museum thinking and practice. Drawing on the illuminating history of the Smithsonian Institution, this book offers an account of how museums have addressed and renegotiated wider calls for inclusion, ‘self-definition’, and racial justice, in ways that continually re-centre and legitimise the White frame. Charting the emergence of ‘post-race’ ideas in museums, Bunning demonstrates how and why ‘culturally specific’ approaches have been met with suspicion and derision by powerful museum stakeholders against the backdrop of a changing United States of America, just as they have offered crucial vehicles for sectoral change. This study of the evolution of racial ideas in response to Black empowerment highlights deeply entrenched forms of White supremacy that remain operative within the international museum sector today, and serves to reinforce the urgent calls for the active disruption of racist ideas and the redesign of institutions. Negotiating Race and Rights in the Museum will appeal to those working in the international fields of museum and heritage studies, cultural studies, and American studies, and all who are interested in the production of racial ideas and White supremacy in the museum.

In view of the ever-increasing use of interactive and emerging technologies in museum spaces, Museums and Technologies of Presence rethinks the role of such technologies as potential facilitators of presence and as vehicles for offering new, immersive, and embodied visitor experiences. This edited collection presents theoretical approaches and case studies that explore how presence can be experienced in museum spaces and what role technology can play in visitor experiences. It considers the theoretical underpinnings of the concept ‘presence’ for museum spaces, offering a critical examination of how immersive and other emerging technologies can affect, diminish or enhance our sense of presence and embodiment. Through an international range of case studies and innovative projects, this volume considers emerging technologies – including virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive (multisensory) installations, and AI – alongside different aspects of presence, including immersion, embodiment, empathy, emotion, engagement, and affect. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Museums and Technologies of Presence will be beneficial to those researching or studying in the fields of Museum Studies, Digital Humanities, Computer Science, Information Science, and Digital Media. It will also be useful to museologists, curators, and artists who are interested in developing immersive experiences, experimental new media, and immersive aesthetics.

Theorizing Equity in the Museum integrates the perspectives of learning researchers and museum practitioners to shed light on the deep-seated structures that must be accounted for if the field is to move past aspirations and rhetoric and towards more inclusive practices. Written during a time when museums around the world were being forced to reckon with their institutional practices of exclusion; their histories of colonization, both cultural and intellectual; and, for many, their tenuous business models, the chapters leverage a range of theoretical perspectives to explore lived experiences of working in the museum towards changing the museum. Theories of spatial justice, critical pedagogy, culturally relevant pedagogy, critical race theory, and others are used to consider how the museum’s dominant cultural structures and norms collide with museum professionals’ aspirations for inclusive practices. The chapters present a mix of empirical research and reflections, which collectively operate to theorize the museum as a potential force for enriching, empowering, and transforming an inclusive public’s relationship with some of our most powerful ideas and aspirations. But first they must change, from the inside out. Grounded in practice and practical problems, Theorizing Equity in the Museum demonstrates how theory can be used as a practical tool for change. As a result the book will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums, education, learning and culture, as well as to museum practitioners with an interest in equity and inclusion.

Museums, Refugees and Communities explores the ways in which museums in Germany, The Netherlands and the UK have responded to the complexities and ethical dilemmas involved in discussing the reasons for, and issues surrounding, contemporary refugee displacements. Building upon an ethnographic study carried out in the UK with refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the book explores how object-led approaches can inspire new ways of thinking about and analysing refugees’ experiences and European museums’ work with their communities. Enlarging the developing body of research on museums’ increasing engagement with human rights and focusing in particular on the social, cultural and practical dimensions of community engagement practices with refugees, the book also aims to inform growing debates on museums as sites of activism. Museums, Refugees and Communities offers an innovative and interdisciplinary examination of museum work with and about refugees. As such, it should appeal to researchers, academics and students engaged in the study of museums, heritage, migration, ethics, community engagement, culture, sociology and anthropology.

Revisiting the Past in Museums and at Historic Sites demonstrates that museums and historic spaces are increasingly becoming "backdrops" for all sorts of appropriations and interventions that throw new light upon the objects they comprise and the pasts they reference. Rooted in new scholarship that expands established notions of art installations, museums, period rooms, and historic sites, the book brings together contributions from scholars from intersecting disciplines. Arguing that we are witnessing a paradigm shift concerning the place of historic spaces and museums in the contemporary imaginary, the volume shows that such institutions are merging traditional scholarly activities tied to historical representation and inquiry with novel modes of display and interpretation, drawing them closer to the world of entertainment and interactive consumption. Case studies analyze how a range of interventions impact historic spaces and conceptions of the past they generate. The book concludes that museums and historic sites are reinventing themselves in order to remain meaningful and to play a role in societies aspiring to be more inclusive and open to historical and cultural debate. Revisiting the Past in Museums and at Historic Sites will be of interest to students and faculty who are engaged in the study of museums, art history, architectural and design history, social and cultural history, interior design, visual culture, and material culture.

Museums, International Exhibitions and China’s Cultural Diplomacy examines the role museums and, more specifically, international exhibitions, have played in shaping China’s international image to date. Drawing on theories and methods from museum studies and international relations, the book evaluates the contribution international exhibitions make to China’s cultural diplomacy strategy. Considering their impact on the country’s international image, Kong also probes the mechanisms and processes involved, examining in detail the policy of, and international activities promoted by, the Chinese government. The book also analyses the motives of the Chinese and overseas museums that host these exhibitions. Taking some major exhibitions that were on show in the UK during the 21st century as a representative case study, the book reveals the mechanisms by which these exhibitions were developed and shared overseas. Questioning who really shapes the image of China, Kong challenges Western assumptions and looks ahead to consider whether, moving forward, the Chinese government and museums could work together in a mutually beneficial way. Museums, International Exhibitions and China’s Cultural Diplomacy contributes to the growing literature on museums and diplomacy. As such, it will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums and heritage, international relations, culture, politics, China and wider Asia.