Editorial | Exploring our colonial legacy

As regular readers of Museums Journal know, we have been running a series of themed issues over the past few years.

It kicked off in 2020 with a takeover by the Black British Museum/Museum X, which was followed by a special edition on climate justice. The next year, we created an anti-ableism issue, where we worked with a panel of advisers and adopted the tagline “nothing about us, without us”.

In 2024, an entire edition of the magazine focused on the joy of museums, to link with the theme of the Museums Association’s annual conference in Leeds.

This issues features a series of articles commissioned and written by our guest editor Gary Younge, an author, broadcaster and professor of sociology at the University of Manchester.

The former editor-at-large at the Guardian has focused on the legacy of empire in Europe and the role museums play in how we remember the past, including colonialism. Gary’s introduction explains why this is important – because the past “is directly related to the present and informs the future”.

To dovetail with the series of articles that Gary has commissioned, this issue also includes an In Practice special on how museums approach repatriation.

Through a series of case studies, we explore the complex legal and practical considerations involved, and how this work needs to be carefully navigated and communicated effectively to stakeholders and the public.

Our analysis section includes an article about human remains, which is also covered by Dan Hicks. This follows a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations. The Laying Our Ancestors to Rest policy brief highlighted the “profound distress to diaspora communities” caused by the continued presence of African ancestral remains – mostly acquired during the colonial era – in UK collections.

Reflecting the usual broad scope of Museums Journal, our other analysis articles look at temporary exhibitions, working with prisoners and how museums are adopting the living wage.

We hope you enjoy this final printed issue of 2025. Next year, the magazine is 125 years old, and we are planning lots of special things for this anniversary.