Doing liberatory museum work: Ways of presenting im/material culture beyond containment

Abstract

"Doing liberatory museum work: Ways of presenting im/material culture beyond containment" examines material culture and narratives of U.S. history beyond their materiality to consider how sensory experiences of im/material culture can disrupt the production of symbolic violence through museum work. Museum work that de-centers normalized narratives of U.S. history and material culture is liberatory when the museum work practiced is towards the intention of dismantling systems of abusive power such as white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism. Liberatory museum work is thus a queering project for how museum work disrupts normalized representations of material culture and historical narratives, particularly through a de-centering approach to conceptualizing exhibitions and organizational structuring. I propose that liberatory museum work is also informed by an ethics of care and attention to Black and Indigenous histories. By practicing liberatory museum work in conceptual and practical ways, museum workers get closer to dismantling systems of abusive power as well as the limitations they impose on what museum work, material culture, and understandings of our self-identity are experienced as. I ground my theoretical conceptualizations of liberatory museum work in critical theory, material culture studies, memory studies, and queer theory, building from existing theoretical terms such as Black shoals, relationality, care, and disruption. I explore MONUMENTS, a contemporary art exhibition in Los Angeles, to determine how museum practitioners can work towards practicing liberatory museum work. I carry lessons learned from MONUMENTS forward by providing recommendations for practitioners at a local history museum, the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation, who must consider how their organization will practice liberatory museum work in the future. Ultimately, I argue that liberatory museum work, when done with an ethics of care, attunement to Black and Indigenous perspectives, and with the intention to disrupt normative presentations of U.S. historical narratives and material culture, is a necessary approach to working in museums because of liberatory museum work's power to eliminate the reproduction of symbolic violence in museum contexts and dismantle systems of abusive power.