Decolonization and the impact on San Diego’s museums and cultural artifacts worldwide
For anthropologists and museums worldwide, recognizing the historical roles their fields have played in colonization is important to begin working towards decolonization
Picture this — your family and community are being terrorized by some foreign source. They force you to assimilate to their customs and traditions, causing you and your descendants to lose parts of your true heritage. The remnants of your culture are then seized to be put on display in museums worldwide.
This is what happened to cultures and peoples that suffered the repercussions of colonialism. Cultures such as the Maya, Ancient Egyptians, and the Native Americans were displayed in ways that portrayed them as being from an alien time or “ancient” for visitors to Western museums over the past century.
“Museums can be very painful sites for Native peoples, as they are intimately tied to the colonization process,” Amy Lonetree said in the book “Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums.”
While colonialism filled Western museums with cultural artifacts from around the globe for decades, San Diego’s local museums have taken it upon themselves to backtrack on the colonial influences that have plagued the cultures they choose to present. Decolonization, however, is something that the peoples who suffered colonialism have been doing since the beginning of their history with colonizers.
Museum of Us
For San Diego’s the Museum of Us the path towards decolonization has directly shaped their museum’s operations.
In order to reflect on its history, the museum follows four guiding principles listed as part of its decolonization initiatives:
“Truth-telling and accountability, rethinking ownership, organizational culture shift supported by systems and policy, Indigenous representation.”
In line with its decolonization efforts made internally, the museum is also displaying an outward showcase of its efforts through signs in the museums detailing the colonial history of specific exhibits.
Among the signs, one states, “The Museum of Us is currently working to change Maya: Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, the outdated exhibit you see before you. Maya peoples are still here today and thriving, and they continue to maintain their cultural heritage. Yet, this exhibit presents them as a civilization frozen-in-time and people of the past. The one-sided narrative of the exhibit elevates Euro-American academic perspectives above the voices of the Maya community relative to their past, present, and future.”
The Museum of Us is not unique in its history as it is one that can be shared by some of the world’s biggest museums.
“Acknowledging that our Museum, like many other museums, emerged from the colonial endeavor, white supremacy, and the self-righteous belief that to the victor goes the spoils,” the museum stated in their decolonizing initiatives.
The British Museum
The British Museum is filled with artifacts that are traced back to colonial lootings, such as the Benin Bronzes or the famed Moai sculptures from Easter Island.
The British Museum has acknowledged that some items in its possession have contested ownership and colonial history which it discusses online.
The Benin Bronzes were created from at least the 16th century in the West African Kingdom of Benin and include ornate cast plaques, items of royal regalia, and commemorative heads, animal, and human figures, according to the British Museum’s website.
The bronzes continue to make headlines about their display in museums, most recently the Smithsonian announced the removal and discussion of repatriation of the bronzes. Major collections are still held outside of Nigeria, where the Kingdom of Benin was located.
Anthropology's role in colonialism
Shannon Black, an anthropology professor at San Diego State University, reflects on how anthropology has a major role in museums and its colonial past.
“Anthropology is the scientific study of humans, but its history is inherently connected to colonialism until the 1960s and 1970s, when anthropology began to reflect on its colonial past,” Black said.
Anthropology graduate student at George Washington University, Jose Gonzalez, explains how the field and museums have contributed to society’s outlooks on those who aren’t European or American.
“I’m sure there’s a certain feeling amongst people not even in the field that museums are a place deeply rooted in colonialism, that have made people very uncomfortable and have benefited from oppressing others,” Gonzalez said. “They’re one of the biggest contributors to how we think about race … the other, the savage.”
This view of indigenous cultures is exactly what museums are working toward correcting. Biological anthropologist Sydney Garcia shared how human remains can be displayed by museums.
“We (biological anthropologists) pull together assemblages of human remains that didn’t ask to be taken and be put into a ‘collection’ at an institution,” Garcia said. “So the very foundation of anthropology is just that: who’s different from cis-gender white man? Who is more human, who is less human, who should be on display at the natural history museum, who should be on display at the American history museum, for example.”
The rise of Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ people, and minority groups working as anthropologists help change the study’s outlook as to how artifacts are viewed and acquired.
“I think a shift in recognizing that decolonization has been happening, and it needs to be on the forefront of anthropologists’ minds, was when more black, indigenous, people of color became anthropologists,” Garcia said.
While more representation doesn’t necessarily mean more change, anthropologists can use their own experiences and background to guide their views on their work.
“But I do think being a person of color, it makes you always think about these issues. Whether or not that’s the main subject of head, I’m always going to have issues of race in the back of my mind,” Gonzalez said.
Future of Decolonization
Decolonization is not a clear path with an end goal in sight. However, it is a journey of reflection and discussion that affects the ways institutions view and collaborate with the historical victims of colonialism.
“Therefore, decolonizing museums is about expanding perspectives and reversing the power dynamic that has favored historically endorsed dominant cultural groups, particularly white colonizers,” Black said.
“As the museum world explores further what a decolonizing museum practice involves, I believe it is critical for museums to speak the hard truths of colonization and to honor Indigenous ways of understanding history,” author Amy Lonetree said in her book “Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in national and tribal museums.”
The future of decolonization may not have a clear end in sight, but the mere actions that are being taken to reach that point show museums and anthropologists are recognizing their problematic past.
To assist in the context of just where some of the artifacts being displayed originate from, this Instagram page is curated to show the artifact in question, as well as a geotagged location with their original home, and a caption that explains its history.
This project was produced by Aaron Velasquez as a published learning experience in JMS 430 Digital Journalism, part of the Journalism and Media Studies Program at San Diego State University.
