From Collections to Dialogues: The Role of Language and Queer Theory in Transforming Museums

Every museum you have ever entered, every exhibit you have wandered through, every artifact you have admired has been carefully curated–filtered through systems of power that shape what you see and, more importantly, what you do not. These cultural institutions, long regarded as centers of knowledge, are far from impartial. Museums serve as much more than just cultural vaults or historical platforms–they are dynamic storytellers that bring history to life. Through that storytelling, museums actively construct history, which in turn, informs communication and dissemination of knowledge structures. Moreover, it is through this construction that museums tend to erase, distort, and misrepresent the history and cultures of those who do not fit in the dominant narrative. What if everything you thought you knew about museums was just another story–a carefully crafted narrative designed to conceal as much as it reveals? This essay works to disrupt these misconceptions of museums as arbiters of truth, by critically examining the foundational structures of museums and the ways in which power and privilege shape what is preserved, displayed, and excluded. The scope of this project covers European and North American museums that display culture, with a particular focus on museum roles that encompass public engagement. I pause here to recognize the multifaceted nature of the museum, and the many avenues available for inquiry–one being the research branch of these institutions. In being centers of knowledge, museums produce knowledge through innovative scientific research breakthroughs as well as exhibition display narratives. This thesis focuses solely on the public engagement aspects of museal spaces (across many different genres of museums: natural history, cultural, art, scientific, children’s, historical, etc.) that inform, perpetuate, and produce knowledge systems. By going further than just working with critical museological methods, this essay will work with the principles of queer theory–namely, disrupting structures of power, knowledge and control; challenging norms and unsettling fixed meanings; and embracing fluidity as a means of exploring potentiality–offering alternative frameworks for understanding how museums produce knowledge and display culture. It explores how these structures influence contemporary linguistic trends within museums, underscoring the significance of language–and its delivery through narrative and storytelling–in shaping historical understanding.