Overview

Public History, Gender, and Power in Latin American Museums brings together pioneering voices of women curators, museum professionals, and community leaders who are transforming the cultural landscape of Latin America. Through first-hand testimonies and critical essays, this book examines how feminist approaches and public history practices are reshaping the politics of heritage, memory, and representation from the 1980s to the present. From Bolivia’s Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore to Colombia’s Museo Itinerante de la Memoria and Guatemala’s Museo Ixkik’, this book promotes reflections that highlight collective efforts and diverse ways of narrating stories in public spaces. This book analyzes the local contexts where curatorial practices and cultural policies emerge, giving prominence to the women who lead museological projects and their transnational impact. It examines the role of these museum projects in the field of public history and in relation to the decolonization processes undertaken by various museums globally. Public History, Gender, and Power in Latin American Museums: Women Curators and Cultural Leaders is an essential volume for students, activists, and researchers interested in museums, decolonial thought, feminism, and activism in Latin America.

Full Product Details

9781041010180

Table of Contents

Reviews

""It would be hard to overstate the importance of this collection of eleven essays examining museums and other places of public history through a gendered lens. Part one of Public History, Gender, and Power in Latin American Museums: Women Curators and Cultural Leaders gives space to little-heard indigenous and marginalized community voices sharing varied experiences of working both with and within museums. Part two offers more academic reflections on knowledge production, social activism, and the cultural politics of doing history work. Anyone interested in history, public history, museums, archives, tangible and intangible heritage, cultural representation, and cultural politics should read this book. Why? Because these voices, case studies, and research findings from across Latin America offer insights of global significance."" David DeanDistinguished Research Professor in History & Professor Emeritus, Carleton University co-editor, International Public HistoryPresident, Workers' History Museum ""This beautifully conceived, carefully structured and very well-written collection edited by Bedoya and Perry presents readers with an impassioned political plea for global audiences to learn about and acknowledge the significant contributions of women public historians and museum workers in Latin America. The collection creatively critiques the hegemonic historical practices of the Global North insisting on the need for local, Indigenous, Afro-descendant, migrant, community-based women and workers to have their voices heard in museums and civic spaces around the world. The authors challenge Western-centric, masculinist, colonial accounts of the past and museum practices, making clear the powerful political purpose of public history in the process and the need for all of us to stop, listen and think about the political consequences of the work we do and to try a good deal harder to make public history more inclusive."" Tanya EvansProfessor, School of Humanities Centre for Applied History Centre for Media History (CMH) Macquarie University President International Federation for Public History, IFPH ""Public History, Gender, and Power in Latin American Museums offers readers an international and engaging overview of the transformative potential of public history to challenge hegemonic narratives and support more representative and inclusive museum practices. Through a series of experienced testimonies and professional analyses, the book sheds light on current power relations in public history and is an indispensable resource for anyone working in the field."" Thomas CauvinProfessor of Public History PHACS (Public History as the New Citizen Science of the Past) ATTRACT Grant Project funded by the Fond National de la Recherche (FNR) Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG CAMPUS BELVAL

Author Information

María Elena Bedoya is an independent scholar and curator and an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research explores public history, visual culture, and critical museology in Latin America. Jimena Perry is a Colombian public historian, anthropologist, and Professor at Iona University in New York. Her work explores memory, museums, and community-based heritage in Latin America. She manages the IFPH Explorers project, promoting global dialogues on decolonial, feminist, and participatory approaches to public history.

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