Radical Structural Change in North American Dress and Textile Museums and Collections: Critically Analyzing Social Justice, Oppression, and Empowerment

Abstract

The purpose of our research was to examine how dress and textile collections or museums have explicitly and implicitly conveyed solidarity with social-justice efforts. This includes how institutions have made antidiscrimination part of their guiding principles, as well as how these ideologies may have materialized in exhibitions. Using content analysis, we analyzed mission statements, diversity statements, and exhibition titles and descriptions of 134 North American dress and textile museums or collections. We identified five themes in the mission statements: preserving knowledge, education, spectrum of social-justice related language, oppressive language, and other commitments. We found that about half of the museums or collections had diversity statements and most created solidarity statements against racism on social media. A little less than half of the institutions explicitly incorporated social justice within exhibition titles and descriptions. Positive steps were made among these institutions to combat discrimination, but there is work still to be done.