What Museums Say and How They Say It: Discursive Practices, Deficit-Laden Labels, and Minoritized Communities

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Producing Minoritized Subjects

Abstract

How do museum practitioners discursively position the minoritized communities they seek to engage? What does the language they use (e.g. “low-income,” “non-English speaking families”) to describe racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse communities reveal about their beliefs and assumptions about persons and groups from these communities? An analysis of 26 interviews with science museum practitioners across the United States highlights practitioners use of economic and class descriptors, languages spoken or not spoken, and deficit-based interpretations of inequities in science to locate and frame minoritized communities’ participation in museums and in STEM. I offer insights into the consequences of these discursive practices for teaching and learning.

Author

• Krystal R. Villanosa, Northwestern University