Decolonising the Museum: New Voices New Narratives

UNESCO defines a museum as an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally significant objects for the service of society and its development, but what happens when the very institution which is supposed to teach people about their history and culture presents a biased point of view? What happens to the culture there? Unfortunately, this is exactly the situation of Pakistan and its museums. We had the ill fate of being colonised by one of the most powerful empires at the time and had to sacrifice so much just to get the chance to have a say in our matters. The saddest part is that 78 years after the fight, we still struggle to find the remnants of our culture amidst the web of colonisation. We lost our history because of them; what is left is a hollow shell of past events, clouded by the narrative fed to us by our colonisers. We do not know who our true leaders are, and how we used to be as a society before we were invaded and fundamentally changed. Our history books give us a vague idea of what happened, downplaying our struggles and idealising those who exploited us.

One could argue that the very idea of museums is colonial because the British used to take historically significant things from all the countries they colonised to their country and showcase them, telling the story of that nation however they wanted and, often, portraying themselves as the saviours. However, that is not to say that the entire concept of museums is flawed; we, as a free nation, can use the very symbolism and concept of museums to showcase our culture and resilience.

Now, the main problem that Pakistan faces in terms of museums and colonised perspectives is the repetition of the same narrative, which is revised repeatedly in our history books, vastly different from the version of history we hear from our grandparents and their personal experiences. This gap and repetitiveness drive people away from museums; they start seeing them as mere extensions of their history books and not a place where they get to experience or relive their history. The disconnect they feel from history translates to museums as well. Now, when a nation is not aware of its history, or is confused between two versions of it, how is it going to understand and learn from it? It has gotten to the point where museums are just considered "libraries with statues", you go there and there is a collection of artefacts with panels explaining what it is, there is no connection, no experience there.

The official perspective that has been ingrained in our brains since we were kids is the colonised history of the subcontinent, where martyrs were numbers and cities of a country were divided like chess pieces; in our history books, human beings are mere statistics. However, the reality is much different, when you talk to someone who experienced it all they will tell you about the trauma, loss, and chaos that ensued; that every single person from the millions killed had a family waiting for them at home, that packing your entire life in a suitcase and leaving the city you grew up, never to return, is not as simple as they make it sound.

Decolonising a museum means showing the true version of history that got buried under the colonial propaganda; to say the names of the people who have been erased from history and tell their stories, to learn from them. By doing so, museums are better able to fulfil their role of being a service to society, to engage and educate people on history, the real history of their people. Bringing new narratives also attracts more people to the museums, allowing a bigger audience.

Talking about adding new perspectives, the example of the National History Museum is quite fitting as it doesn't just read a page out of a history book; you get to experience it. For example, just reading about the mass migration that took place in 1947 doesn't move you as much as seeing the camps and tents where the Muhajir had to survive for the months following the partition and hearing their stories of hunger, poverty, and everyday survival. Once you humanise the "numbers" in our history books, people start to understand a whole new version of history.

Decolonising museums is a way of still showing the resilience taught to us by our ancestors, to show that the war for physical independence was fought by them, and we are continuing their legacy to free our culture and history from the clutches of the colonial mindset. Our history is ours to tell; you cannot dictate how we get to do it. Lastly, understanding and experiencing history fosters patriotism. The younger generation is unaware of the sacrifices made during the freedom movement, all they have seen their entire life is the power-hungry elite constantly fighting for more power and money, ruining their country in the process, and this gap continues to exist because no one is interested in museums, once they get to experience the new perspective of the struggle that was done for this country, will they understand how big of a blessing it is.