Reviews

As a museum girlie, I thought this book was a fascinating and important read to unpack why and how the modern concept of museums came to be, and to interrogate the lens with which we view museums, especially in the West.

If this seems really daunting to you, I commend Procter for deftly giving a history lesson and getting to the point without complex jargon or theory, so if you're someone who likes museums I really encourage you to give this a shot!!

While others have pointed out this isn't a necessarily groundbreaking text, Procter helpfully breaks down the different "types" of museums and focuses specifically about how they were created, funded, and curated to reinforce colonizer values.

The work that needs to be done asking questions such as "who decides what is art" "what is seen as socially acceptable to put on display/by whom" and "who decides what cultural institutions have say over what pieces, and why" will continue to be done by people with far more degrees than I, but especially if you are a white person I think this book is worth picking up and starting to ask some of those questions for yourself.