Museums in postcolonial Europe: an introduction

Abstract

Government ministries have historically played a central role in sponsoring imperial ambitions overseas, in supporting the establishment of museums in which to display the acquired spoils and glorious symbols of geopolitical power, and in mobilizing public support for these expansionist ventures. In turn, decolonization has entailed an interrogation of relationality between former colonial powers and colonized subjects alongside claims and demands that have been made by ethnic minorities and immigrants insisting upon improved representation in the genealogies of European nation-states. Museological practices have been subjected to greater scrutiny in light of these political and social transformations, and a comparative transhistorical and transcolonial analysis of European museums stands to improve the contextualization of these experiences and legacies. In addition to the refurbishment and restructuring of colonial era museums, new spaces have also been inaugurated thereby further highlighting the contemporary importance of museums in postcolonial Europe as well as the significance of incorporating the perspective of postcolonial European populations into these museums.