Decolonizing US settler-colonial narratives in living history museums: the Pilgrims as first people?

ABSTRACT

Museums around the world are recognizing their responsibility to repudiate violent legacies of colonialism and decolonize collections, exhibits and interpretation. In North America, decolonization has meant repatriating sacred artifacts, sites and bodies to Indigenous and other dispossessed people; presenting counter-narratives to white settler-colonial history; challenging racist, sexist and other negative stereotypes and histories; and teaching the legacies of violence against Indigenous Peoples, enslaved Black Africans and other groups brutalized by settler-colonialism. Decolonization also means Indigenous and other marginalized people telling their own stories, co-designing exhibits, and developing non-colonial alternatives to museums to research, preserve, celebrate and educate about their heritage and history. This paper examines the historical narratives found in Plimoth Patuxet living history museum alongside those presented by local Wampanoag People. Findings include an elaboration of settler-colonial, bicultural and decolonizing narratives. The paper concludes with a discussion on centering decolonizing narratives in museums.

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonizing museums
• living history
• settler-colonialism
• Indigenous People
• Pilgrims

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Pierre Walter

Pierre Walter is a professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His research focuses on decolonizing museums, community-based ecotourism, and environmental and climate justice education.