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Decolonizing the Modern Museum: Policies and Procedures for Best Practices

Carter, Grace
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1697981274525124

Abstract Details

2023, Master of Arts, University of Akron, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration.
Museum policies and procedures must be flexible to address the growing movement to decolonize the museum. Policies should minimize the challenges and barriers related to leveraging collections, especially regarding objects with ambiguous provenances and objects that were acquired because of colonialism, armed conflict, genocide, or a combination of all three. Museum constituents are growing more interested in how collections are built and maintained and wish to see their own values reflected by the institutions they choose to patronize. Therefore, museum staffs bear a responsibility to tell the full story behind their collections and to strive to rectify past wrongs, ethically and legally. Further, policies must allow for mutually beneficial negotiated agreements, ranging from loans, to legal ownership agreements, to full repatriation. This interdisciplinary thesis proposes best practices for museums to follow when handling objects that were acquired because of colonialism and its related effects, with consideration given to legal, ethical, and museological perspectives—and recognizes that this work is forever ongoing and that to remain effective, policies require regular review.
Arnold Tunstall (Advisor)
Holly Christensen (Committee Member)
Scott Piepho (Committee Member)
Robert Tucker (Committee Member)
Elisha Dumser (Committee Member)
84 p.
Art History; History; International Law; Law; Legal Studies; Museum Studies
Repatriation; restitution; Benin bronzes; decolonization; museum; museology; cultural property; museum studies

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Carter, G. (2023). Decolonizing the Modern Museum: Policies and Procedures for Best Practices [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1697981274525124

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Carter, Grace. Decolonizing the Modern Museum: Policies and Procedures for Best Practices. 2023. University of Akron, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1697981274525124.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Carter, Grace. "Decolonizing the Modern Museum: Policies and Procedures for Best Practices." Master's thesis, University of Akron, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1697981274525124

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1697981274525124
436
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This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.