The Role of Museums in the Landscape of Minority Representation

People perceive museums to be among the most trustworthy sources of cultural and historical information and knowledge. Because of this, how cultures and peoples are represented in these spaces is important to understand, especially as the landscape of representation changes over time. This project documents and analyzes the scope and breadth of how the geography, history, and culture of a minority group is represented in museums, and how this changes over time. The research links the emerging and growing fields of Black and museum geographies to advance research on museums as sites of public pedagogy that play a critical role in Black spatialities - the spaces of the Black experience as well as a more active understanding of the Black experience. By considering the multi-faceted approaches to the planning, design, and management of public spaces, this research enhances the understanding of the role museums play in representing Black life in a way that challenges racism and racial mythologies and mobilizes responses to racial controversies. Findings from this research can be used to understand differential representation of other minority groups as well. The project will broaden participation of an early-career researcher and includes participation of undergraduate and graduate students in STEM education.

Using a mixed-methods approach the investigators will systematically (1) document the impact that evolving museum content areas have on visitor experience and learning, (2) compare the content of larger established museums such as the Smithsonian to smaller regional museums to assess how regional histories, stakeholder interest, and monetary resources shape the represented history, and (3) analyze how museum curators address controversial current events as part of museum's mission to support communities at local, regional and national scales. The project will result in the development of a theoretical model that contributes to explanations about the growing willingness of museums to engage with difficult subject material. The research advances geographical literature specifically in the subfields of museum geographies and Black spatialities and as well as general research on heritage landscapes and geographies of memory.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.