When reading through academic journals and conference papers, the term ‘radical’ is often used as a way of describing a kind of utopian theoretical idea of what museum practice and museology of the future should or could be. On its own, this word has little practical application other than to convey that something needs to fundamentally change within the sector for anti-colonial museum practice to occur.
This serves to maintain the idea that the ‘radical’ is something for Western museums to aspire to in theory, but perhaps something unachievable in practice.
The author harnesses this prolific concept – exploring and further defining the idea of radicalness through the proposition of ‘The Radicals’ as a framework or set of principles through which museums could undertake anti-colonial practice.
These principles are in practice in museums already, so they are not necessarily new, and whilst each has its individual merits, they become particularly interesting and relevant for anti-colonial museology when they are practiced together.
- Radical imagination – it;s not if, but when
The imagination, and especially the radical imagination, is tremendously important for changing these and other systems. It provides the idea that things could be different, and that we could live life otherwise.
- Radical transparency – the importance of truth telling
Radical Imagination will include the reimagining of museum ethics and priorities. Utilising a feminist approach, Marstine proposed the idea of Radical Transparency for new museum ethics because: social responsibility will not flourish in museum culture unless participants know the stakes: unless museums disclose what issues they are facing, the “hows” and “whys” of their decision-making processes and the larger impact of these choices.
- Radical trust – deferential colleaboration
A year prior to Marstine’s work on Radical Transparency, Lynch and Alberti proposed that museums should practice Radical Trust within engagement, where ‘the museum may control neither the product nor the process’.
- Radical hospitality – museums as facilitators of healing
Finally, and perhaps least developed within the museology literature, Mbembe proposes the idea of Radical Hospitality for the ‘anti-museum’. Mbembe sees the anti-museum not as an institution but as ‘a place of refuge’ (Mbembe Citation2019, 172). I have been expanding upon this theory through my work, and I propose that the anti-museum is shorthand for the anticolonial museum – a place where cross-cultural respect and understanding are prioritised over conservation protocols.
