Decolonizing Libraries, Archives and Museums: Communicating Partial Perspectives and Multiple World Views

Abstract

Libraries, Archives and Museums are interesting institutions as they share common goals of preserving and providing access to ‘knowledge.’ This knowledge, however, is not neutral. The history of these institutions began in the ‘West’ as a nation building project meant to solidify notions of superiority over ‘other’ nations and peoples. The processes involved in selecting what knowledge and artifacts are worthy of preservation and are thus available to the public, provide insight into who is valuable to the nation and what knowledge is legitimate. The colonizing function of these institutions is evident as they alienate, silence, stigmatize and erase the lives of indigenous peoples. Yet, this need not be the case. For professionals in these fields, decolonizing these spaces involves more than simply making note of best practices for indigenous peoples as a new user group. Continued involvement in a process of decolonization must begin with the acknowledgement of multiple valid world views and multiple valid ways of knowing.