Queering the Museum

Author: Craig Middleton and Nikki Sullivan Series: Museums in Focus

Queering the Museum develops a queer analysis of the ways in which museums construct themselves, their core business, and their publics through the, often unconscious, use of inherited ways of knowing and doing.

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Queering the Museum develops a queer analysis of the ways in which museums construct themselves, their core business, and their publics through the, often unconscious, use of inherited ways of knowing and doing.

Providing a critique of both the practices and conventions associated with the modern public museum, and the ontological assumptions that inform them, the authors consider recent discourse around inclusion in museums and explore the ways this has been taken up in practice. Highlighting the limits of particular approaches to inclusion, and the failure to move away from a traditional museological paradigm, the book outlines an alternative critical museological approach that the authors refer to as ‘queer’. Providing readers with the critical tools necessary for a profound rethinking of museum practice, the book also responds to and problematises the growing call for social inclusion.

Queering the Museum will appeal to academics, students, and museum and arts sector practitioners with an interest in critical theory or queer practice. It will be of particular interest to those working in the fields of museum studies, sociology, archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies, media, social policy, politics, philosophy, and history.

Critic Reviews

"In Nikki Sullivan’s and Craig Middleton’s Queering the Museum, we witness alternative offerings that question, deconstruct, and reimagine what museums can be doing. They critique the institution of museums by exploring queer methodologies within and outside of the museum and addressing this institution as much as an entity as an action. Delving into critical race theory, indigenous studies, queer studies, feminist methodologies, cultural studies, the authors position museums as being shaped by the world around them, aspiring for inclusion yet continuing to hide and exclude the other-ed, and needing to advocate for museums’ participation in critical reflections and approaches to this work. While this book can serve as a helpful toolkit for pushing, reimagining, and queering museums, Sullivan and Middleton resist the notion that there is a prescribed remedy or formula to queering the museum." Sarita Hernández, SQS 1-2/2020, Queer Eye reviews.

"The book encourages readers from the outset to push back against the idea that there is one way to pursue its subject matter. Instead, it urges readers to ‘avoid conceiving museums and museological practice in binary terms – good/bad, us/them, progressive/anachronistic, inclusive/exclusory’ (3). Queering the Museum lives into this premise, complicating and challenging binaries both formal and implicit." C.M Wilson, University of Leicester

About the Author

Nikki Sullivan is Manager of the Centre of Democracy in Adelaide, South Australia. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, University of Adelaide.

Craig Middleton is Curator at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra. His research and practice explore political histories and histories of activism, LGBTIQ+ histories, and critical museology.