By Community, with Community: Decolonial Recommendations for Collections Management Policies in Museums

This thesis is a study of the current collections management policies (CMP) that govern museums and that produce and sustain colonial language and practices. I focus on the impact of CMPs on community museums, and I conclude with recommendations for decolonial interventions, with the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago (FAHSC) serving as the central case study in developing these solutions. My critical analysis of CMPsreveals the persistence of coloniality through the policies’ emphasis on permanent, singular ownership; the ratification of exclusionary professional standards; the use of vague operational language; and lack of community involvement. Thus, in order to be a decolonial institution, the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago and other similar organizations should confront these issues through policies that center community agency, anti-accumulative practices, and multiple forms of knowledge production and sharing. My research draws on critical policy/rhetorical analysis as the main methodology and decolonial as the main theoretical framework. I applied critical rhetorical analysis in my study of the collections policies of five community museums in the United States, and I conducted interviews with collections employees from these institutions to learn more about the development and enactment of such policies. To create concrete recommendations for FAHSC, this thesis explores the nuances of Filipinx/a/o identity formation and discusses the value of kapwa and kuwentuhan as lenses for framing such recommendations. In pursuing these solutions, this thesis desires to demonstrate the possibility of building collections policies that are built both by and for the community, as well as offer practical guidelines for local institutions to pursue their own decolonial collections work.