Beyond 'diversity' initiatives: Interrogating whiteness towards a decolonisation of the museum space.

将目光转向白人和种族在多大程度上有助于博物馆的非殖民化，以及在多大程度上可以创造更具种族包容性的空间？最近推动博物馆空间非殖民化的运动在很大程度上被博物馆解释为殖民地博物馆白色空间的多样化。然而，正如苏马亚·卡西姆所说：有色人种往往被卷进来提供自然资源-我们的身体和我们的非殖民思想-这些资源被利用，然后被丢弃。[...]我们不应该把责任推给有色人种--无论是作为博物馆的促进者还是观众--我们需要翻转叙述，并询问博物馆如何能够以不继续剥削有色人种的方式为白色多数观众促进非殖民化进程。（Kassim，2017）。这项研究旨在超越“多样性”的倡议，专注于拆除白色的形象作为规范，并暴露“种族”及其遗产在博物馆空间的核心去殖民化。这并不是说“多样性”不重要。然而，我认为博物馆空间内的“多样性”项目，坐在没有挑战的白色结构，导致永久的种族主义殖民遗产博物馆试图解决。鉴于迅速变化的道德景观，机构正在努力与种族遗产和呼吁采取行动，这项研究旨在扩大我们对非殖民和种族意识的博物馆实践和游客参与的理解。使用基于行动的，原始的见解白作为一个种族化的地位，通过对“种族”的展览的发展引起的，本研究旨在创建一个镜子到白博物馆的“种族”扫盲工作的一个非常重要的贡献。这个博士将采取多方法的方法;通过观察和反思的方法收集数据，研究展览案例研究;并通过“种族”展览生成数据。作为一个社会干预的研究项目，它旨在探索性地调查一个关于“种族”的展览对参观者和博物馆工作人员的影响，以帮助回答我上面提到的过度紧张的研究问题，以及以下两个子问题：当白色“看到”白色时会发生什么？通过将白色的凝视转移到自身，并通过改变主体-客体的动态，可以创造新的观看方式吗？在博物馆展览中揭露“种族”的社会结构在多大程度上能为白色和种族少数群体在观众、工作人员和机构层面上如何应对“种族”和种族主义带来积极的变化？这项研究旨在为知识提供原创性贡献，以便通过提供如何处理种族平等工作的步骤变化来影响博物馆部门。学者和从业者越来越多地要求将“白度”作为这一过程的基本组成部分进行识别和分析（Jenson，2011; Monserrat，Wee和Gamaker，2020; Kassim，2017），但在这一领域几乎没有任何重要和可靠的研究。

To what extent can shifting the gaze onto whiteness and race contribute to decolonisation in museums, and to what extent can this create more racially inclusive spaces?The recent drive to decolonise the museum space has largely been interpreted by museums as diversifying the colonial museum white space. However, as Sumaya Kassim states: Too often people of colour are rolled in to provide natural resources - our bodies and our decolonial thoughts - which are exploited, and then discarded. [...] Rather than place the onus on people of colour - either as facilitators or as an audience for the museum - we need to flip the narrative and ask how the museum can facilitate the decolonial process for its white majority audience in a way that does not continue to exploit people of colour. (Kassim, 2017). This research seeks to move beyond 'diversity' initiatives to focus on dismantling the image of whiteness as the norm, and exposing 'race' and its legacy in the museum space as central to decolonisation. This is not to say that 'diversity' is not important. Yet I ague 'diversity' projects within the museum space that sit within unchallenged white structures result in perpetuating the racist colonial legacy the museum is attempting to address. In light of a rapidly changing ethical landscape, where institutions are struggling with racial legacies and calls to action, this research aims to extend our understanding of what decolonial and race-conscious museum practice and visitor engagement looks like. Using action-based, original insights into whiteness as a racialised status elicited through the development of an exhibition on 'race', this research seeks to create a mirror onto whiteness as a highly significant contribution to museum 'race' literacy work. This PhD will take a multi-method approach; collecting data through observational and reflective methods studying exhibition case studies; and generating data through an exhibition on 'race'. As a research project that is a social intervention, it intends to be an explorative investigation into the impact of an exhibition on 'race' as a construct on visitors and museum staff, in order to help answer my over-arching research question stated above, in addition to two sub-questions as follows: What happens when white 'sees' white? In shifting the white gaze onto itself, and by changing the subject-object dynamic, can new ways of seeing be created? To what extent can exposing the social construction of 'race' in a museum exhibition create positive change in how 'race' and racism are addressed by white and racially-minoritised people at audience, staff, and institutional levels? This research intends to offer an original contribution to knowledge in order to impact the museum sector by offering a step-change in how racial equity work is approached. Identifying and analysing 'whiteness' as a fundamental part of the process is increasingly called for by scholars and practitioners (Jenson, 2011; Monserrat, Wee and Gamaker, 2020; Kassim, 2017), yet there is very little, if any, significant and robust research in this area.