Boundary Work and Racialized Discourse in Museums' Decisions to Host an Exhibition on Race

• In Event: 79.042 - Still Persistent, Still Pervasive: Race and Racism in American Schooling

Abstract

As museums attempt to engage in racial equity work, and to become more equitable organizations, they encounter many of the same challenges that plague other historically white organizations. Drawing on interviews with staff from 28 different museums, we examine how the decision to host the exhibition "RACE: Are We So Different?" sheds light on the tensions museums navigate as they attempt to engage in racial equity work. Concerns raised by museum staff and boards point to familiar issues of white fragility and a racialized discourse of fear and safety, but also suggest that museums used disciplinary boundary work (e.g., “It’s not really science”) to challenge the RACE exhibition.

Authors

• Noah Weeth Feinstein, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Esther HsuBorger, The University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Corinna Phelps West, University of Wisconsin - Madison