Contentious Politics and Museums as Contact Zones

Social movement theory has, in recent years, been criticized for its inability to develop theoretical frameworks and forms of analysis relevant to activists and the causes they represent. In contrast, the same period has seen an escalation of claims made about the instrumentality of museums to source communities and stakeholder groups as well as governments. Ideas of shared authority, empowerment through recognition, community collaboration, and political agency have transformed the field of museum studies. In this chapter, I draw on theorizing from the field of museum studies and on several case studies that explore the relationship between collective action and the Smithsonian Institution to highlight and address the lacunae evident in social movement theory, and propose analytical alternatives. In so doing, I revisit Clifford's argument that museums can function as contact zones.