About Museums, Culture, and Justice to Explore in Your Classroom

Therese Quinn is an associate professor and director of Museum and Exhibition Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

• Singing in Dark Times: A Series Introduction xiWilliam AyersForeword Kevin K. Kumashiro  xiii1. Introduction: Are Museums for Everyone?  1Museums Delight and Surprise 1Museums Also Disappoint 2Museums Want Us—Do We Want Them? 2Museums and Cultural Justice 5Museums and Social Movements 6Teaching Museums 7Learning Museums—Chapter Topics  82. Who Made the First Museum?  11A Woman Made the First Museum 11Origin Stories Reveal and Create Value 12Looking Back to Look Forward 143. Why Do Museums Collect? 20A Collection in Every Classroom 20Collections, Science, and the Privilege of Curiosity 21Sciences and Other Ways of Knowing 22Museums for the Future 23Our Full View 254. What Have We Learned from the Past and About the Present That Can Help Us Shape the Future?  29Museum Revolutions 29Return Wakanda's Artifacts! 30Decolonize Is a Verb 325. How Can Museums Welcome All Bodies?  38Access and Experience 38Designing to Include  40Nothing About Us Without Us! 41Creative Access 426. How and When Should Museums Respond to Everyday Events?  47Museums Are Not Neutral 47Collecting and Archiving as Action 48Museums Taking Sides 48Exhibits as Agents of Change  49Rethinking Museums 517. What Is It Like to Work in a Museum?  56People Make Museums 56Museum Work Is Work 58What Makes a Good Workplace? 608. How Can Museums Celebrate LGBTQ People's Lives and Contributions?  66Holding Hands at the Museum 66Centering Queer Lives  699. What Can Museum Practices Teach Us About Collaborating and Sharing Authority? 77Becoming Leader-Full  77Collaborators and Co-Curators 78Resist Curation  79Making Exhibits to Build Community 8010. Why Do We Pay to Visit Museums? 84Museums Belong to Us 84The Burden of Fees 85Free Museums 86Conclusion 90Index 91About the Author 96