Activist Museums - History, Memory, and the Politics of Exhibition

A growing trend for history museums in the 21st century has seen a move away from traditional, object-based, politically neutral exhibitions to more idea-based and explicitly political exhibitions. I call these museums, “activist museums” because of the work they do to connect the past and present with a specific future. This project examines activist history museums from the United States and Canada that have been influential in their local, national, and international contexts and aims to capture the ways these museums have utilized the museum form to shape and challenge dominant historical discourse(s) and political subject formation(s) by centering memories and histories that are left out or marginalized within the national imaginary, employing alternative temporalities to challenge those narratives, and encouraging visitors to become activists themselves. I argue that they use their visibility and their potential audiences to subvert and challenge the museum form for their different political projects.

Author

• Ross, Eric Ward

• Activism
• Activist Museums
• Museum Studies
• Political Subjectivity
• Public History
• Visual Culture

Identifier

hdl:1920/13815

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:MARS:1920/13815