AVC233

This course introduces students to the problematic and colonial histories upon which museums were built. Beginning with an introduction to postcolonial theory and institutional critique, students critically examine the containment of colonial objects and related efforts to control colonial bodies. By acknowledging colonial records and structural racism as the foundation upon which the modern museum was built, students grapple with historic and exploitative systems of power that formed the world’s first collections and still govern modes of display and interpretation today. Through experiential learning, the class engages with cases of repatriation and the marginalization of art histories from the Global South, and analyzes museum practice in relationship to global migration, COVID-19, the racial justice movement, climate change, and wars in Syria and Ukraine. The course uses the Bates College Museum of Art and Bates College Archives as sources of study.