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THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND THE IDEA OF DECOLONISATION

OUR RESEARCH QUESTION

DOES THE BRITISH MUSEUM SYMBOLIZING THE BRITISH EMPIRE OFFER A DECOLONIZED NARRATIVE INTO MIGRATION?

This project examines whether the British Museum offers a genuinely decolonized narrative of migration. Through the “Living and Dying” exhibition, we analyze how objects, texts, and display strategies reflect deeper histories of empire. By focusing on key cases such as the Moai from Rapa Nui, we explore how colonial legacies continue to shape the museum’s narrative, often presenting migration without fully acknowledging the power structures behind it.

We chose this question because none of us are British, and we come from countries that were affected by colonialism in one way or another. This perspective allows us to examine how the British Museum, as a symbol of the British Empire, presents stories of migration and culture, and to question whether it can truly offer a decolonized narrative or continues to reproduce the power structures of its imperial past.

WHY WE CHOOSE THIS RESEARCH QUESTION?

RESEARCH

Multimodal Analysis focuses on how meaning is created through different modes such as text, images, and spatial design. In the “Living and Dying” exhibition, we analyze how objects, written descriptions, and their placement interact to produce a specific narrative about culture and migration. This allows us to understand how exhibitions communicate ideas beyond written language.

Multimodal Analysis

METHODS

Examines how language reflects and reinforces power relations. Following Van Dijk (2001), CDA focuses on implicit meanings—what is suggested but not directly stated. In this project, we use CDA to analyze how the museum frames colonial histories, migration, and cultural identity, paying attention to what is emphasized, omitted, or normalized.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

DEFINITION OF THE MAJOR WORDS

Image by Elizabeth George

MUSEUMS AND MIGRATION

HISTORY, MEMORY AND POLITICS

'[Museums] can be 'temples of civilization, sites for the creation of citizens, forums for debate, settings for cultural interchange and negotiation of values, engines of economic renewal and revenue generation, imposed colonialist enterprises, havens of
elitist distinction and discrimination, and places of empowerment and recognition. (1)'

By Laurence Gouriévidis (Routlege, 2014)

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  • KAYLA TAYLOR

    United States of America

    Kayla Marie Taylor — is a New York based performer, choreographer, and dance educator. Her focus is majorly in Tap, Hip Hop, and Jazz dance but has spent her life training in all styles. She continues to train in NYC, eager to learn from the knowledgable professors in the dance field. 

     

    Having trained with some of the world’s most renowned instructors, including Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Jason Samuel Smith, and Candace Brown. Kayla is currently pursuing a double major in Dance and African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University ('27).

  • PAULO NOEMI ZULETA

    Chile

    Paulo Noemi Zuleta is an engineering student at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

  • EMMANUEL CUBILLOS NIETO

    Colombia

    Emmanuel Cubillos Nieto is an artist currently living London. He studies at Universidad de los Andes, where he is pursuing a BFA in Art with an emphasis in Electronic Media and Time-Based Arts, with a focus on audiovisual practices. In parallel, he is completing a BA in Digital Storytelling and an academic minor in Photography.

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    His artistic practice is characterized by an exploration of the everyday—capturing what, despite its repetition, preserves a unique quality when observed and recorded. Memory occupies a central place in his work, not as a closed archive but as a living territory activated through the image.

     

    He moves between still and moving images, understanding these media not as opposites but as complementary forms. He also explores digital languages through the materiality of code and data, experimenting with their plastic, formal, and temporal possibilities. His work unfolds across formats ranging from photography and video to installation and multimedia proposals.
     

ABOUT US

We are three Arts and Sciences affiliate students at University College London

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