The End of the Museum: Culture, Colonialism, and Liberation by Kevin Coffee ISBN 9781032792781, 1032792787 instant download

The End of the Museum: Culture, Colonialism, and Liberation by Kevin Coffee ISBN 9781032792781, 1032792787 instant download

This provocative book challenges frequently voiced assertions regarding museums
as necessary and valued modern institutions. It raises fundamental, existential
questions about contemporary museums as products of the modern colonial world
order.
Drawing on practical examples of collecting and exhibiting, theoretical research,
and critique from diverse countries across the globe, including Chile, India, Korea,
the Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestine, Portugal, Sri Lanka, and the United States, this
book moves beyond the conventional Eurocentric museological framework. This
book synthesizes contemporary critiques of museums, while arguing that societies
need the sociocultural examinations that museums are capable of facilitating
and that radical transformations of “the museum” are fraught with difficulty, but
also possible and necessary. Ultimately, Coffee argues that museums can only be
future orientated if they are transformed into agents of social justice and inclusion,
divestors of illicit collections, and proponents of a liberatory ethic, opposing
neo‑colonialism in all of its forms. During that transformative process, as this book
demonstrates, museum practice and museum theory must also be transformed.
The End of the Museum: Culture, Colonialism, and Liberation will appeal
to students, researchers, and practitioners interested in a critical examination of
museum work and theory.