Decolonization Practice in Museum Culture

o In this project, under the supervision of Asian Cultures Curator Dr. Raissa DeSmet, Guiragos acted as a part-time exhibit presenter for the University of Washington Burke Museum’s exhibit of South Asian and Pacific Cultures during their Pacific Voices Transition/Celebration event. In this, Guiragos created a detailed history and ethnography of his assigned objects and their creators. Guiragos worked with the Burke Museum to expand their Ethnology Collections database and their information of Javanese shadow puppets.

o This course was a rich exploration of South Asian culture and texts, a region whose ideas and practices were entirely new for me. First, the project was instrumental in deconstructing my bias and colonial underpinning to natural history museum culture. Second, it introduced me to a variety of university resources which greatly furthered my ability to conduct meaningful and accurate research. Third, it furthered my abilities in collaborative research as I was able to draw on my classmates and professors lived experience to enrich my understanding of my assigned objects. The culmination of the project with the Pacific Voices Transition/Celebration event at the Burke Museum allowed me to share my work with museum patrons for an evening. This proved an invaluable tool in learning to translate academic research into short and clear conversation with people outside academia.