THE TOLL OF BRIDGING THE GAP: GENDERED AND RACIAL SYSTEMATIC SEPARATION IN MUSEUM STUDIES

She's My Muse | Jaime Meier

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Last year I walked into my first day of class in the MMSt program and was pleasantly surprised to see the room of women before me. Despite this female majority, a handful of men, and certainly not all, have taken it upon themselves to occupy the most space. One went as far as to say that he "speaks for the class," as the silence of women during discussion may be interpreted as an apprehension to participate rather than contemplation for a thoughtful answer. Others will have a moment of self awareness and acknowledge that they "talk too much," but continue to take up space or repeatedly add their commentary to the chat box. The men mentioned would be horrified to learn that their actions had negative impacts on their female colleagues, as it is not done out of a dislike of women, but because systems of oppression rely on separation, whether it be gendered or racially based. I find myself fearing these dynamics will continue within museum spaces once I enter the workforce. 

(Source)

I strive to participate in class discussion and use in-class activities and written assignments to assert my thoughts and critically engage, which has led to a male professor branding me as "brazen" — to be bold and without shame. While I am willing to embrace this term, I wonder if the men dominating discussion are ever called brazen or if their opinions and statements are easily accepted as being reasonable. It is also not lost on me that Audre Lorde has called attention to the ways Black women have been associated with hostility when expressing sentiments similar to white women, such as myself, or men. Lorde continues on to say that we "too often pour the energy needed for recognizing and exploring difference into pretending they are insurmountable differences." This has led me to reflect on how the MMSt program has been preparing or under-preparing us to face and overcome these challenges in the field. 

It has often been students and student organizations working to challenge systems of oppression present within the MMSt program. A Report on Diversity and Inclusion Experiences at the Faculty of Information was created based on a survey in June 2020 and was compiled by Oy Lein Jace Harrison and Lo Humeniuk, members of the Diversity Working Group, and Dominica Tang from Museum Professionals of Colour in collaboration with the Accessibility Interests Working Group, the Doctoral Student Association Indigenous Connections Working Group, the Master of Information Student Council, and Master of Museum Studies Student Association. Over 130 students, faculty, and alumni attended the panel discussion on the report. The report highlights the lack of inclusion in regards to BIPOC, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ2+ community and how these topics have been handled in an inappropriate way that has left students feeling unsafe. Reports such as these can be difficult to absorb and implement, as challenging systems threaten those within power, but growth is not possible without feedback and critique.

Courtesy of the Diversity Working Group, Museum Professionals of Colour, Accessibility Interests Working Group, the Doctoral Student Association Indigenous Connections Working Group, the Master of Information Student Council, and the Master of Museum Studies Student Association. 

The students and organizations who participated in the survey, put together demands for change, and led the panel discussion, were not compensated for their labour. Many of the published comments from the survey mention difficult experiences that were hard to endure the first time and I am sure were unpleasant to repeat. The coordination between six different student organizations is no easy task, getting three people together to discuss a project over zoom is difficult enough, not to mention the hours that were poured into the brilliantly executed report. Luckily, t I have many counterparts in MMSt with me, straight and queer, men, women, and non-binary people, and we all have a responsibility to each other to reduce the emotional toll that comes with our mere existence within a system that so often seeks to destroy difference in favour of assimilation. While I work on navigating my relationships with talkative men in MMSt and ensuring that I uplift rather than ignore the struggles experienced by BIPOC and people with disabilities, it is my hope that MMSt graduates will take reciprocity, inclusion, and relationality into the field with them, as oppression cannot survive as long as we bridge the gap together.