Paper short abstract:

Public calls for decolonization and decolonial practices at ethnographic museums constitute a field of paradoxes, especially in view of notions of “the public(s)”. What does “publicness” and “publics” imply when these notions are approached from a decolonial museum agenda?

Paper long abstract:

The call for restitution is loud, the toppling of colonial monuments highly visualized in media and social networks. The claim for decolonial responsibility of public institutions and museums is present in streets, squares, media and social networks. However, how exactly does activism in public space relate to museums? In what sense(s) are museums public, and who are their publics? How does the publicized call for transformation support, but also interfere with sincere processes of decolonization in and of the museum? And what publics would the museum represent and serve in a truly decolonized society?

This paper will discuss these questions and the paradoxes of public calls for decolonization on the one hand and of decolonial practices at ethnographic museums on the other. It reflects critically on the fact that not only institutions with colonial history, but also contemporary public discourse, policies and often activism are deeply rooted in postcolonial rather than decolonial concepts and underpinnings. A selection of practice-derived examples from the Africa department at Linden-Museum Stuttgart will serve to present these underpinnings and how they relate to some aspects of the complex positionality of museums in their applied effort to decolonize. It will conclude with a reflection on possible notions of “publicness” and “publics” when they are approached from a decolonial museum agenda.