Museums and Social Change: Challenging the Unhelpful Museum

Museums and Social Change explores the ways museums can work in collaboration with marginalised groups to work for social change and, in so doing, rethink the museum.

Drawing on the first-hand experiences of museum practitioners and their partners around the world, the volume demonstrates the impact of a shared commitment to collaborative, reflective practice. Including analytical discussion from practitioners in their collegial work with women, the homeless, survivors of institutionalised child abuse and people with disabilities, the book draws attention to the significant contributions of small, specialist museums in bringing about social change. It is here, the book argues, that the new museum emerges: when museum practitioners see themselves as partners, working with others to lead social change, this is where museums can play a distinct and important role.

Emerging in response to ongoing calls for museums to be more inclusive and participate in meaningful engagement, Museums and Social Change will be essential reading for academics and students working in museum and gallery studies, librarianship, archives, heritage studies and arts management. It will also be of great interest to those working in history and cultural studies, as well as museum practitioners and social activists around the world.

Adele Chynoweth is currently a lecturer at the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University, where she received the 2018 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Public Policy and Outreach.

Bernadette Lynch is an Honorary Research Associate, University College London. As a writer, researcher and museum professional she is known internationally for her work on public engagement and participation in museums. She has thirty years’ experience in senior management in UK and Canadian museums.

Klaus Petersen is Professor of Welfare State History and director of the Danish Centre for Welfare Studies at the University of Southern Denmark.

Sarah Smed is head of the Danish Welfare Museum, and known for her activist involvement in social issues, the Danish National Apology to Care Leavers in 2019 and investigation into other institutional abuse in 2020.