Power, Empire and Colonialism in London’s Museums

Debates around Britain’s colonial legacies and decolonisation of Britain’s institutions have been at the forefront of public consciousness. This course will explore the imperial and colonial foundations of London’s museum collections and their legacies. Through a series of visits, students will learn about the historical development of Britain’s museums from private collections to public institutions. They will investigate how individuals, who often amassed their wealth as a result of the transatlantic slave trade and the growing British Empire, brought objects from across the globe to Britain. Their personal collections and motivations became the foundations of Britain’s museums and galleries, shaping understandings and interpretations of these objects. Students will discover how London’s museums constituted the world and Britain’s place within it, and constructed and reaffirmed national, imperial and colonial identities, and continue to do so.

Students will also examine the various ways museums are attempting to address their colonial legacies through debates around repatriation, restitution and decolonisation, as well as how they are trying to widen their public uses and communities of knowledge in order to disrupt longstanding narratives of power and dominance. Along with developing knowledge about the contents of London’s collections and the study of material sources, the course will aim to deconstruct the fraught history and ideologies of London’s museums, and foreground the important cultural and social role museums play in the dissemination of knowledge to the public.