AAAS 68.20 Decolonizing the French Museum: The Memory and Legacies of Black Enslavement
Museums are powerful institutions and sites of memory that have both the capacity to shape the public’s understanding of the past and perpetuate centuries of unresolved traumas and harm through their curatorial practices. The selective acquisition, cataloging and exhibition of paintings, sculptures, engravings, photographs, fashion, archeological or ethnographic objects, furniture and decorative art, uses of space, and more not only narrate but also obscure how imperialism, power, and racism are embedded in visual culture.
This course explores how art objects in French museum collections bear witness to the history, memory, and legacies of black enslavement in African and its diasporas. The central questions examined in this course include: What is the provenance of these objects? What are the differences across various types of museums in their representation of black enslavement? How do the exhibit labels and catalogs, books, and reproductions inform and misinform viewers’ knowledge of the peoples and processes of enslavement? How have museums managed their collections amid public scrutiny and disputes over repatriating and/or redistributing artwork and cultural objects? How have contemporary artists and social justice movements addressed colonial collections in relation to present-day struggles in France? What are the future directions in museum practices? Students will engage with these questions and efforts to decolonize museums and curatorial practices through scholarship, guided tours, excursions, guest speakers, and various assignments designed to explore and analyze these questions.