{"product_id":"decolonize-museums","title":"Decolonize Museums","description":"\u003cb\u003eBehold the\u003cbr\u003esleazy logic of museums: plunder dressed up as charity, conservation, and care.\u003c\/b\u003eThe idealized\u003cbr\u003eWestern museum, as typified by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British\u003cbr\u003eMuseum, and the Museum of Natural History, has remained much the same for over\u003cbr\u003ea century: a uniquely rarified public space of cool stone, providing an\u003cbr\u003eexperience of leisure and education for the general public while carefully\u003cbr\u003etending fragile artifacts from distant lands. As questions about representation\u003cbr\u003eand ethics have increasingly arisen, these institutions have proclaimed their\u003cbr\u003einterest in diversity and responsible conservation, asserting both their\u003cbr\u003eadaptability and their immovably essential role in a flourishing and culturally\u003cbr\u003erich society.With \u003ci\u003eDecolonize\u003cbr\u003eMuseums\u003c\/i\u003e, Shimrit Lee punctures this fantasy, tracing the essentially\u003cbr\u003ecolonial origins of the concept of the museum. White Europeans' atrocities were\u003cbr\u003ereimagined through narratives of benign curiosity and abundant respect for the\u003cbr\u003eoccupied or annihilated culture, and these racist narratives, Lee argues, \u003cbr\u003eremain integral to the authority exercised by museums today. Citing pop culture\u003cbr\u003ereferences from \u003ci\u003eIndiana Jones\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eBlack Panther\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cbr\u003eand highlighting crucial activist campaigns and legal action to redress the\u003cbr\u003eharms perpetrated by museums and their proxies, \u003ci\u003eDecolonize Museums\u003c\/i\u003e argues\u003cbr\u003ethat we must face a dismantling of these seemingly eternal edifices, and\u003cbr\u003econsider what, if anything, might take their place.\r","brand":"Shimrit Lee, Bhakti Shringarpure","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44443225555180,"sku":"9781682193150","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9781682193150.jpg?v=1719521552","url":"https:\/\/allstora.com\/products\/decolonize-museums","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}