Child-Centred Approaches in Museology

Over the past several decades, great strides have been made to democratize museums in a variety of ways. Ongoing calls for deeper and more diverse forms of participation, power sharing, and collaboration have brought a wider range of perspectives and participants into the processes of producing exhibitions and programming. But museum practitioners’ engagement with children often remains stuck in outmoded, hierarchical dynamics that fail to recognize children’s capacities as contributors and collaborators in their institutions.

This workshop will provide a brief primer on what a critical children’s museology can be, and participants will explore together the possibilities and challenges of engaging with children as key knowledge-bearers and creative agents. We will identify strategies and possibilities for children to contribute to museum content and programming that is not just for or about them, but by and with children.

Presenter bios

Monica Eileen Patterson, PhD, is Assistant Director of Curatorial Studies, Institute for the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture at Carleton University. Her publications include being co-editor and contributing author of two books: Curating Difficult Knowledge: Violent Pasts in Public Places (2011) and Anthrohistory: Unsettling Knowledge, Questioning Discipline (2011). As a scholar, curator, and activist, Patterson is particularly interested in the ways in which children, childhood, and racism are represented and engaged in contemporary public spheres. Her current research project, “A New, Critical Children’s Museology” identifies and develops approaches to producing exhibition content not just for or about children, but by and with children across the globe.

Rebecca Friend is currently pursuing a PhD in Public History at Carleton University. She holds a MA in Public History, a Graduate Diploma in Curatorial Studies from Ottawa’s Carleton University, and a Bachelor in History (Honours program) from Concordia University in Montréal. Her Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded research studies representations of children and childhood in Canadian commemorations, and captures contemporary children’s own interpretations of the messages communicated. Rebecca has worked as a research assistant with the Reimagining the Children’s Museum Team at the Canadian Museum of History, and most recently as a Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations Program Officer with the Canadian Museums Association.

This event is organized by the Thinking Through the Museum Research Network with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.