Mike Jones observes that “[r]ecent decades have seen significant moves away from the idea of the authoritative institution toward relational museums and the co-creation of knowledge. But the structure and content of much museum documentation continues to lag behind contemporary attitudes” (2019: 884). This observation holds true of the UK museum sector where drives to ‘diversify’ and ‘decolonise’ museum practice are only just beginning to be reflected in the core work of museum cataloguing.

This session provides an opportunity to hear from researchers and practitioners working ‘against the grain’ of the colonial and imperial knowledge frameworks embedded in museum documentation systems to develop more reflexive, multivocal and relational accounts. Through a series of short presentations and panel discussion, speakers will discuss their current practice/research, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities encountered.

Speakers include:

Kathleen Lawther (freelance curator and collections consultant)

Shelley Angelie Saggar (CHASE funded PhD researcher and museum worker)

Hannah Turner (Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia School of Information)

Ananda Rutherford (Research Associate, Provisional Semantics, Tate)

Also,

Anjalie Dalal-Clayton (Research Fellow, Decolonising Arts Institute, UAL) will open the event.

Kelly Foster (public historian and founding member of AfroCROWD UK and TRANSMISSION) will take the role of respondent.

Further details: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/centrefordesignhistory/2021/05/21/event-26-april-2021-decolonising-the-database/

Image credit: Stuart Caie, licensed for use under creative commons

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Decolonising the Database