Defining decolonisation in Bolivian museums: from rhetoric and practices to conceptualisation

博物馆的非殖民化，作为一个概念和一个变革性的过程(Tuck和Yang，2012)，需要创造可能破坏机构初衷的规范和做法。作为一个多民族国家，玻利维亚继续与其殖民历史和当代的内部殖民作斗争。经过数十年的基层文化权利运动(Cusicanqui，1986)，玻利维亚于2009年成为一个致力于非殖民化的多民族国家。国家立法机构，如承认土著语言、文化习俗和反歧视法律，正在重塑玻利维亚各地的机构、社会关系和思想，包括博物馆。尽管没有国家主导的博物馆非殖民化计划，但拉丁美洲博物馆特有的工作和变革的沃土(Pinochet Cobos，2016)推动了几个非殖民化项目。尽管博物馆仍然被认为是僵化的机构，但工作人员不断地质疑和转变自己的角色。玻利维亚的例子包括：在国家艺术博物馆以非殖民主义的视角策划展览；任命一名土著艾马拉人类学家担任民族志和民俗博物馆馆长；与当地艾马拉社区混合管理提瓦纳库遗产地和博物馆。我之所以选择研究这三家博物馆，是因为它们是受政治议程密切影响的国营机构，在馆长、招聘和管理方面独树一帜地从事非殖民主义做法。我的研究将：-让积极参与这些进程的博物馆如何以及以什么方式整合去殖民主义议程，以及土著知识在哪里以及如何被引入作为认知和叙事工具。-详细研究博物馆工作者为促进或阻止去殖民主义实践而使用的动机和策略，以及他们如何看待自己和博物馆在非殖民化过程中的角色。-为寻求在传统空间实施新视角的博物馆工作者提供新的见解，特别是在重新配置不同背景的文化参与者之间的权力关系方面。-探索非殖民化作为一种针对具体情况的概念和基于需要的做法，如何能够成为社会变革的驱动力。-通过玻利维亚后殖民时期博物馆的原始发现和社会文化特点，促进玻利维亚和后殖民社会的学术知识和博物馆工作概念化的新视角。一年将致力于博物馆、文化和拉丁美洲研究的文献审查，通过案例研究获得以行动为基础的研究倡议的方法工具，并与博物馆联系。第二年将在玻利维亚进行为期十个月的人种学和基于行动的研究。我将分析博物馆的展览叙事、文本、公共计划、加入优先事项和藏品分类。我将采访博物馆工作人员，了解他们的背景、看法和主观性。以行动为基础的研究将包括与工人一起参加的研讨会，利用他们的非殖民主义做法、价值观和知识，以便将这些做法概念化，并共同建立适合他们的价值观和目标的工具。这将使我进一步了解现有的动态。第三年将包括与博物馆工作人员就新工具的实施、数据分析和写作进行评估。

Decolonisation in museums, as a concept and a transformative process (Tuck and Yang, 2012), requires the creation of norms and practices that may undermine the institution's original purpose. As a multi-ethnic nation, Bolivia continues to struggle with its colonial past and contemporary internal colonisation. After decades of grass-roots activism for cultural rights (Cusicanqui, 1986), Bolivia became a Plurinational State engaged in decolonisation in 2009. State legislature such as the recognition of Indigenous languages, cultural practices, and anti-discrimination laws are reshaping institutions, social relations and mentalities across Bolivia, including museums. Even though there is no State-led plan to decolonise museums, the fertile ground for work and change particular to Latin American museums (Pinochet Cobos, 2016) has motivated several decolonial projects. Though museums are still perceived as rigid institutions, workers question and transform their roles constantly. In Bolivia, examples include: curating exhibits with a decolonial perspective in the Museum of National Art; the appointment of an Indigenous Aymara anthropologist as director of the Museum of Ethnography and Folklore; and the mixed-management of the Tiwanaku heritage site and museum with the local Aymara community. I have chosen to study these three museums because they are State-run institutions closely influenced by the political agenda and uniquely engaged in decolonial practices in relation to curatorship, recruitment and management. My research will:- Generate new understanding of how and by what means museums actively involved in these processes have integrated a decolonial agenda and where and how Indigenous knowledge has been introduced as a cognitive and narrative tool.- Undertake a detailed examination of the motivations and strategies utilised by museum workers to facilitate or impede decolonial practices, and how they perceive their roles and the museums' in the decolonisation process.- Generate new insights for museum workers seeking to implement new perspectives in traditional spaces, particularly in reconfiguring the power relations between cultural actors of different backgrounds. - Explore the means in which decolonisation, as a context-specific concept and needs-based practice, can become a driver for social change. - Contribute, through the original findings and sociocultural particularities around Bolivia's postcolonial museums, to produce new perspectives in academic knowledge and conceptualisation of museum work in Bolivia and postcolonial societies.Year 1 will be dedicated to a literature review on museum, cultural and Latin American Studies, acquiring methodological tools for action-based research initiatives through case studies, and contacting the museums. Year 2 will comprise of ten months of ethnographic and action-based research in Bolivia. I will analyse the museums' exhibition narratives, texts, public programmes, accession priorities and collection taxonomies. I will interview museum workers to understand their backgrounds, perceptions and subjectivities. The action-based research will consist in participative workshops with workers, drawing on their decolonial practices, values and knowledge in order to conceptualise these practices, and collectively build tools appropriate to their values and goals. This will allow me to further understand the dynamics in place. Year 3 will consist of an evaluation with museum workers regarding the implementation of the new tools, data analysis and writing.