Acknowledging our history and shaping a just future

Manchester Museum was borne of civic pride, but like many other European museums of it’s time, it was also borne of Empire, colonial violence and extraction.

The collections at Manchester Museum were largely accumulated within the context of Empire, through the support of donors who benefited from the practice of racial slavery, forced extraction and the systemic oppression of Indigenous Peoples.

While the collections for many spark joy and celebration, for many others it is a source of pain and harm. It’s our responsibility as custodians of the collections, to be open about your Museum’s history and to ground our work in practice that seeks justice and healing for communities who have been and who continue to experience harm. Part of this work also includes engaging with our visitors around the history of British colonialism and Empire and how it has both shaped this Museum and the world we live in today.

More information about decolonising practices in museums can be found in the Museums Association Decolonising in Museums guidance here.

How are we decolonising your Museum?

As a museum shaped by colonialism, decolonising is an integral part of Manchester Museum’s mission to build a more just and sustainable world. Decolonising is a long-term process that starts with acknowledging the true, violent history of colonialism and how it shapes our world and this museum. Decolonising aims to build new ways of being and working that are based on values and principles of justice and de-centers white western systems of knowledge.

Decolonial principles have informed approaches to creating new displays and galleries, most notable in the South Asia and Belonging Galleries, where co-production and foregrounding the voices and agency of Indigenous and diaspora communities have been central.

Decolonial interventions include the Decolonise! trail, which invites visitors to critically reflect on how the collections got here, whose stories are told across the galleries and how museums shape our understanding of the world.

The trail is an open intervention for visitors to question decisions made behind museum displays and the information accompanying them. Decolonial practice shapes how we care for the collections and the communities they belong to, as well as the care we extend to local communities whose lives today continue to be impacted by legacies of colonialism.

We recognise decolonising as an ongoing practice and commitment. Staff at Manchester Museum are engaged in continual critical reflection, in the process of unlearning and learning, to strive towards being the most caring, just and inclusive Museum we can be. If you’d like to talk to us about this work, you can email socialjustice@manchester.ac.uk 

Welcome to the Manchester Museum Decolonise! trail

Many museums are a product of European colonialism, created to house and show off ‘spoils of Empire’. ‘Spoils’ were cultural items, belongings, nature and ancestors taken from countries that Europe forced control over. For centuries, museums across Europe have documented and interpreted the world through these colonial collections, presenting the world and a version of history through a narrow, colonial lens.

Decolonising at Manchester Museum is a process that includes offering a transparent and more nuanced history of the British Empire and of the collections. This trail is an invitation to you, our visitors, to reflect on the questions above and to join us on our decolonising journey.

The trail includes eight stops around the Museum. Some stops offer more context and untold histories of colonialism. Some pose questions about the past and future of the Museum collection. Some draw attention to decolonial narratives featured amongst galleries.

Decolonise! Trail is a guide to help explore the relationship between museums, colonialism and wider issues of social justice. Why not break the trail up over several visits? There’s lots to take in, don’t feel you have to get to all the stops in one go.

Glossary

Colonialism refers largely to European colonialism – where countries including England, Germany, France, Belgium and Portugal established Empires across the world. Empires were built by forcibly taking control over countries, mostly in the Global South. A belief in the supremacy of white Europeans was a principal ideology underpinning colonialism. This racist worldview was used to justify the violence that Europeans used to enforce their power. Colonial violence included killing Indigenous populations and settling on their land and enforcing religion, cultural practises, laws and enslaved labour onto Indigenous communities. Other actions included stealing and profiting off natural resources and cultural heritage – much of which became the founding collections for museums across Europe and are still held in museums across the world today.

Decolonising is a long-term process that starts with acknowledging the true, violent history of colonialism and how it shapes our world today. Decolonising identifies ways that colonialism has shaped the world around us (including for example, ways that we understand the world, societal power structures, laws and attitudes) and works to challenge or unpick them. Decolonising practice aims to build new ways of being and working that are based on values and principles of justice and de-centers white western systems of knowledge.

Within a museum context, decolonising can include:

• Critiquing colonial documentation of history.
• Returning collections to communities of origin.
• Dismantling embedded racist practices.
• Centering Indigenous and diaspora perspectives to shape engagement with, understanding and narration of collections.
• Prioritising justice for communities who were and are harmed by colonial violence.

Glossary

Colonial: Used to describe features of colonialism, to contextualise something or someone within a time of colonialism or having a legacy of colonialism. For example, “Britain’s colonial rule of India” or “A colonial law” or describing the collection at a museum as having “colonial roots”.

Imperialism: Imperialism is about power and control, it refers to the domination of one country over another’s economy and political and cultural systems. This is often through use of military force and other means. Imperialism restricts the independence of countries/ nations and their citizens.

The British Empire: An empire is a group of countries/ territories that is controlled by one single entity. The British Empire refers to the countries that the United Kingdom forcibly took control and rule over.

Global North, Global South: “The Global North and South” is a framework used to describe the relative wealth and international power of countries around the world. The framework is widely used but is also regarded as a contested concept. Global North includes the countries in Europe, North America, Australia, and some parts of Asia. The Global South includes the countries of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.

Race: A human made social construct, designed to categorise people based on physical features such as skin colour, hair texture and facial features. The idea of race is not biologically ‘real’, but the experiences of people based on their race such as racism and privilege are very real.

Racism: Discrimination and prejudice against a person or community, based on their race, underpinned by an idea of racial superiority and power. Racism can be interpersonal, institutional, cultural and internalised.

White supremacy: The belief that white people are superior to every other race. White supremacy as a belief hashaped the structures that underpinned European colonialism, which our world lives in the legacy of today. As such, many societal systems are built to uphold white superiority and best serve the interests of white people.

Anti-racism: Actively taking steps to eradicate racism – this might include unlearning personal racism, educating others about racism, dismantling racist
structures, laws and practices, challenging racism where it occurs. Anti-racism is an ongoing commitment, not a one-off action.

Indigenous: Indigenous refers to people who have lived in a place from the earliest time, the people who originally inhabited a land and whose culture and lifestyle is unique to that place. Indigenising is change led by Indigenous people. It is a process of centring Indigenous people, their knowledge, experience and cultural practices. This is especially important in museums where knowledge about collections have been built excluding Indigenous consent and perspectives.

Diaspora: Refers to a group of people who have moved away from the place they were born. For example, people born in in Jamaica now living in England would be said to be a part of the ‘Jamaican diaspora’ – their children and grandchildren might also be considered to be in the Jamaican diaspora.

Social Justice: Recognising the root causes of injustice and working to dismantle them.This can take the form of addressing imbalances of power, participation and resources in attempt to create a more just and fair society.

For further reading on colonial language see The Decolonial Dictionary by Shelley Angelie Saggar.

Decolonise! Trail was written by Manchester Museum’s Social Justice Manager, with support from the wider museum team. If you’d like to know more about our social justice and decolonising work, you can visit the page on our website and or email socialjusticemuseum@manchester.ac.uk

Take care on the trail

Decolonise! Trail invites visitors to engage with history and collections at the Museum that include themes of racism, colonial violence and homophobia. Stops on the trail include galleries where there are ancestors or ‘human remains’ as well as taxidermy of dead animals.

Check in with how you’re feeling along the trail and what you might need. If you’d like to have a follow up conversation with a member of the team who worked on the trail you can email socialjustice@manchester.ac.uk