Decolonize the Museum

How do you decolonize what is essentially a colonial institution: the colonial museum? In these essays, students following the MA course ‘Colonial Memory and Postcolonial Heritage’ sought to answer that question. This course offers more than just case studies on how the colonial past continues to shape present society or how people today remember and utilize the colonial past. Students are encouraged to critique colonial memory and heritage practices and the concepts and frameworks we use to study these phenomena: often these are Eurocentric or rooted in uneven relationships. Drawing on insights from other courses, their lived experience, and own reading suggestions, students brought fresh insights to the table. The ‘Decolonize the Museum’ essays pertinently show why students are indispensable to debates on how to decolonize institutions involved in (public) learning.