Glossary of Terms

This Glossary of Terms was made in consultation with the Museums Association’s Our Statement on Decolonisation (2021) and the Curatorial Research Centre’s Decolonising Gallery.

Positionality

Being self-aware of your power and privilege in relation to another.

Inclusion, inclusivity

Creating new ways of doing that are centred on removing barriers to access and participation, be they physical, psychological, social or financial.

Eurocentrism

Assuming the pre-eminence or importance of people and things originating in European countries, e.g. Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy

Transnational

Extending or going beyond national boundaries. Within our project we have
utilised the term ‘transnational’ to highlight the scope of our collaboration with museum
practitioners from around the world, but particularly from remote and island locations.

Colonial, Colonialism

Subjugation of one people by another particularly used to denote the period of British and European empires of colonies from 17th to 20th centuries. Political and economic control of a state over remote colonies. Also, imperialism.

Settler Colonialism

A distinct type of colonialism that functions through the replacement of indigenous populations with a settler society that, over time, develops a distinctive identity and sovereignty. Settler colonial states include Canada, the United States, Australia, and South Africa.

Decolonisation

We are cognisant ‘decolonisation’ is an ever-evolving term with no one agreed international definition. Within our project, we have utilised ‘decolonisation’ in our efforts to address colonial structures and approaches to all areas of museum work.

Decolonising the Database

A phrase used to engage critically with the concept that museum collections databases mimic or reinforce colonial power structures and replicate their prejudices and methods of hierarchical knowledge production. Usually focused on terminology rather than the actual structure. Criticism includes the problem of erasure when amending records, and lack of understanding of history of museum documentation. And something about the inability to accurately capture indigenous scientific knowledge.

Post-Colonial

Work on regions of the world and their people after the end of empire.