In Maintaining Boundaries, Eric Gable researches how the United States’ largest living-history museum Colonial Williamsburg talks about black history. As a case-study, Gable asks the numerous museum guides how they treat the concept of antebellum America’s miscegenation; the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, or, in this case, sexual relations. In Colonial Williamsburg, […]
The voice of slaves in museums
In the Netherlands there has never been more attention for slave heritage and never been more debate about it, writes Toine Heijmans in the Volkskrant last week on the occasion of the new exhibitions about slavery in the Tropenmusuem. The Dutch slave heritage has become a subject of discussion especially in the ongoing debate around Zwarte […]
Combining Object and Space
Since museums are often seen as educational venues, consideration should be given to how problematic subjects are represented. Objects get meaning through the context in which they are placed, and through the combination of objects with which they are exhibited within the same space. The conservators who are responsible for the exhibitions have a major […]
Black Achievement Month; celebration or segregation?
This month the Black Achievement Month will take place in the Netherlands for the second time. Its purpose is to commemorate talented black people and to acknowledge black heroes. Black Achievement Month is based on the successful Black History Month in the United States and United Kingdom. However, the name of the Netherlands’ edition […]
A Mandatory Trip to an Incomplete Identity
Last week it was all over the news; VVD, CDA, D66 and the ChristenUnie want all children in the Netherlands to visit the Rijksmuseum at least once whilst in school. In their government formation talks the parties talked about making it mandatory for schools to arrange these trips to the museum. The compulsory visits are […]
Harnessing the power of history
‘How can the past be of practical value in the present?’ It’s a question we historians hear very often. Well, I could argue ‘of very practical value’, but it’s easier to show that significance by introducing you to the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience. Ruth J. Abram, the president and founder of the […]
Gazing at the Rijksmuseum
I think I had to read Decoding the Visitor’s Gaze at least four times before starting to get a sense of what the chapter by Gordon Fyfe and Max Ross is actually about. And even now, I’m not sure whether I understand what their findings truly entail. But I’ll give it a go anyways. In […]
The value of living art
After reading Multicultural Art and self-representation: An Interview with Artist James Luna written by Klare Scarborough, I became very curious about this artist and his work. James Luna is an American Indian contemporary artist, who developed several exhibitions in museums and cultural centers over the last four decades. His work became famous all over […]
Lesbian, bisexual and gay objects in museums
Although I am a bisexual and an historian, I have never written the words ‘bisexual’ and ‘museum’ in the same sentence. Museums, many of them being temples of heteronormative patriarchy, never seemed to me like places where bisexuality is very relevant or even existing. The reason that I ended up mentioning them in the same […]
Museum-, LGBTQ-, and toilet-matters
The question of what does it mean for a museum to be a welcoming space for everyone is pretty wide and can be answered in many ways. In the past years, however, institutions are being challenged to rethink one of the most basic uses of public space – public restrooms. Everybody recognises these two anonymous […]