Decolonial Constellations: The Post-Museum as a Space for Interculturality and Resistance

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.5739

Keywords:

decolonial constellation, interculturality, cultural resistance, postcolonial studies, post-museum

Abstract

Just as a constellation is made up of individual stars that, when together, create a meaningful representation, decolonial constellations suggests the interconnection of diverse decolonial images, practices and movements that together form a broader, more comprehensive picture of resistance. It suggests the inclusion of multiple perspectives, voices and experiences from different cultures. Similar to constellations, made up of multiple points of light, each image, thought, perspective contributes to mapping and navigating cultural and historical territories that are peripheral to or are suppressed by colonialism, recovering and valuing these spaces through a decolonial approach. In this research, we have adopted a decolonial perspective of interculturality (Martins, 2020; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018), which understands it as a genuine dialogue between peoples and institutions, seeking to promote equal opportunities. The methodological approach is qualitative, based on bibliographical research that explores the concepts of interculturality, decoloniality and post-museality. Throughout this article, we analyse some museums that are transforming their exhibitions and narratives in favour of a decolonial perspective. We explore the African Museum, in Belgium; the Pitt Rivers Museum, in Great Britain; and the Virtual Museum of Lusophony, on Google Arts & Culture, physically based in Portugal. These museums will be presented as case studies that exemplify the approach to the post-museum paradigm.

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Author Biographies

Elaine Trindade, Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

Elaine Trindade is a doctoral student in Communication Sciences at the University of Minho and an FCT research fellow (UI/BD/151121/2021). She is a researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre, working on the Virtual Museum of Lusophony platform. She holds a master’s degree in Communication and Culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She develops research at the intersection of communication and culture, with a focus on Lusophony and new communication technologies.

Moisés de Lemos Martins, Centro de Investigação em Comunicação Aplicada, Cultura e Novas Tecnologias, Universidade Lusófona do Porto, Porto, Portugal

Moisés de Lemos Martins is a retired full professor at the University of Minho. At this university, he was the director of the Institute of Social Sciences, having also directed the Communication and Society Research Centre, which he founded in 2001, and the Virtual Museum of Lusophony, which he created in 2017. He received his PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Human Sciences in Strasbourg in 1984. Having retired from the University of Minho in 2023, he is now a full professor at Lusófona University. At this university, he heads the Faculty of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies in Porto, and is the director of the Department of Communication Sciences. He has published in the fields of sociology of communication and culture, social semiotics, cultural studies, visual studies, intercultural communication, science policy and post-colonial, Lusophone and Ibero-American studies. His latest book is entitled: Políticas de Ciência e da Língua, Publicação Científica e Rankings Académicos (Science and Language Policies, Scientific Publishing and Academic Rankings).

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Published

2024-12-13

How to Cite

Trindade, E., & de Lemos Martins, M. (2024). Decolonial Constellations: The Post-Museum as a Space for Interculturality and Resistance. Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies, 11(2), e024017. https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.5739