The Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) believes that museums and the collections we care for have a vital role to play in building understanding, foregrounding respect, and caring for each other locally and globally.
However, this is predicated on institutional and practical changes that we all have a responsibility to work towards. This is why MEG members have been at the forefront of recognising and working towards overcoming the colonial histories and practices our sector is based on. Our members continue to lead on issues such as repatriation, care for ancestral remains, and engaging with Indigenous communities and communities of origin.
In doing so, we’re responding to challenges offered by Indigenous and originating communities as well as our colleagues and local communities. And while it isn’t easy or always comfortable, and we aren’t always getting it right, we value this work because it forces us to be more creative, more patient, and more understanding in how we listen and how we approach all aspects of museum practice and community-related work.
These lessons and the partnerships we’re developing are helping us to tell nuanced, diverse human-centred stories that can engage visitors and introduce new perspectives to old institutions.
Meghan Backhouse is the chair of MEG