Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 192
•
Trim: 6½ x 9
978-1-5381-1051-5 • Hardback • April 2018 • $88.00 • (£68.00)
978-1-5381-1081-2 • Paperback • April 2018 • $40.00 • (£31.00)
978-1-5381-1082-9 • eBook • April 2018 • $38.00 • (£29.00)
Laura-Edythe Coleman is a museum informaticist specializing in Social Inclusion Theory & Practice. Her focus is on the point of convergence for museums, information, people, and technology. Knowing that societies need museums for creating and sustaining cultural memory, she strives to help communities co-create collections with museums. She is currently a lecturer for Johns Hopkins University Museum Studies Program in which she teaches two core courses: Museums in a Global Perspective and the History & Philosophy of Museums. She can be reached via Twitter: @lauraedythe, website: www.lauraedythe.com, or by email lauraedythecoleman@gmail.com
Chapter 1: Why Do Museums Need Inclusion?
Chapter 2: The Spectrum of Inclusive Theories for Museums
Chapter 3: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Inclusion for Museums
Chapter 4: Creating Cultural Inclusion: Partnerships with People
Chapter 5: Aiding in Social Regeneration: Partnerships with Programs, Agencies, and Community Organizations
Chapter 6: Driving Broad Social Change: Becoming a Vehicle
Chapter 7: Tools for Implementing Inclusion in Your Museum
Chapter 8: Tools for Evaluating Inclusion in Your Museum
Chapter 9: Advocates, Agents, and Architects for American Museums
Chapter 10: Challenge to the Field: Become the Museum for Everyone
Museums by their very nature are exclusive, throwing up barriers both visible and invisible that render their spaces and programming unwelcoming to large sectors of their communities. As Coleman (museum studies, Johns Hopkins Univ.) points out in chapter 1, in 2010, only 9 percent of the 34 percent minority population in the US reported using museums. Coleman specializes in social inclusion theory, and she posits the definition of the term inclusion is founded on the historical concept of social exclusion. She rebuts the myth of museum neutrality and rallies museums to model cultural responsibility in these turbulent social times. Coleman lays out a solid case for why museums should honestly assess and improve the inclusivity of their programs, develop partnerships with community organizations, and become agents for broad social change. She provides tools for museums to survey and analyze their current programming, implement inclusion, and evaluate the results. This book is an engaging read, providing philosophical background and concrete methods for museum professionals to transform their institutions into inclusive contributors to society and transition from "being about something to being for somebody."
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, professionals.
— Choice Reviews
This book. . . is an excellent approach to the word “inclusion”. Understanding and Implementing Inclusion in Museums came along at a good time and is very helpful. . . . this is a book well worth reading, with an open mind.
— Informal Learning Review
At last, the first and definitive guide to understanding the meaning of inclusion for museums, and what is required to achieve it and evaluate it. This book is an essential blueprint for fulfilling the potential of museums as key community resources.
— Robert R. Janes, visiting research fellow, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, UK and editor-in-chief emeritus, Museum Management and Curatorship