In January 2018, I enrolled in Advanced Research Methodologies at University of Victoria with professor Dr. Kathy Sanford. Kathy is a feminist and post-structural researcher in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction as well as the graduate advisor there. I learned a lot from Kathy, and perhaps one of the most interesting things she shared with us was her work in museums. Together with colleagues Dr. Darlene Clover and Dr. Nancy Taber, they developed the feminist museum hack--a pedagogical and methodological approach that encourages museum visitors to examine exhibits through a critical feminist lens. This disruptive practice challenges the museum as an authority on history and promotes the inclusion of different perspectives, diverse groups, and seldom-heard narratives. Museum hacking can also act as a form of resistance against gender oppression and injustice. Kathy took our class to the Royal BC Museum where we had the fascinating experience of "hacking" the exhibits.
This experience stayed with me, and when I found myself teaching Social Studies Methods at Brandon University in 2020 and 2021, I wanted to expose my students to this pedagogical approach. With Daly House Museum only a short walk away, it seemed like the perfect learning experience to accomplish a number of outcomes: i) demonstrate the role of museums in the teaching of social studies; ii) strengthen my students' understanding of experiential learning approaches; iii) develop their ability to examine museum exhibits and curatorial statements; and iv) give them the knowledge and experience to hack museums with their future students as part of social studies teaching.
To build knowledge of the approach, we connected with Dr. Sanford and asked if she would be willing to talk to our class via video call. To prepare for the call, we read one of Dr. Sanford's articles on curatorial statements (available here on p. 190) and listened to a podcast interview with Dr. Clover. I also pulled out some resources from Silvia Tolisano (2011) on how to turn a Skype call into a learning call. As it often is when teaching pre-service teachers, my purpose was two-fold. I wanted to demonstrate for them how to maximize the learning surrounding a video call so they could do this with their own students AND I wanted to make this a rich learning experience for them. We began by searching Dr. Sanford online and used Google Maps to see where she was located. We confirmed the time zone and season there. Using a shared Google Doc as a planning tool, my students assumed a variety of roles: greeting Kathy, providing a territorial acknowledgement, asking questions (added to the Google Doc before and during the call), sharing our learning via Twitter, and thanking Kathy.
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| Samantha shared a Treaty 2 territorial acknowledgement. |
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| Cassandra welcomed Dr. Sanford to Brandon University and our class. |
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| Dr. Kathy Sanford presented on her work with museums and the museum hack approach. |
Our next task was to decide how we would approach hacking the Daly House Museum. Kathy had shared a variety of ideas, such as leaving sticky-note suggestions and questions on exhibits, re-writing curatorial statements, and redesigning exhibits to make them more inclusive and representative. First of all, we wanted to look at all the exhibits and match them to Manitoba curricular outcomes for K-8 social studies. For the actual museum hack, my students came up with their own approach based on the book snaps we had created earlier in the course. They decided to photograph exhibits, then use text-over-image tools to annotate the pictures with their questions, criticisms, and suggestions to improve the exhibits. The images were then shared via Twitter using the hashtags #ssmethods and #museumhack. Take a look at the students' visit to the museum here.
And check out my students' museum hacks:
This was a powerful learning experience and my students' feedback was very positive. We loved getting out of the classroom (which seems to happen rarely during COVID) and we really enjoyed examining the exhibits with a critical, contemporary lens. It made for a more engaging and relevant museum visit that had true purpose. Are you interested in trying the museum hack with your students? You can apply this strategy to in-person or virtual museum visits as well as online exhibits. Learn more here:
- listen to a podcast interview with Darlene Clover on the museum hack (also available on Apple Podcasts)
- read the Feminist Adult Educators' Guide to Aesthetic, Creative, and Disruptive Strategies in Museums and Community (edited by Clover, Dzulkifli, Gelderman, & Sanford, 2020)
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