Dripping pink and blue

In response to calls by feminist cultural theorists to develop means to unmask patriarchy, the system of power that lies at the heart of museums that maintain problematic hierarchical binaries of masculinity and femininity, we designed the Feminist Museum Hack. The Hack draws on theories of represe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Darlene Clover, Nancy Taber, Kathy Sanford
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) 2018-10-01
Series:AS: Andragoška Spoznanja
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uni-lj.si/AndragoskaSpoznanja/article/view/7924
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author Darlene Clover
Nancy Taber
Kathy Sanford
author_facet Darlene Clover
Nancy Taber
Kathy Sanford
author_sort Darlene Clover
collection DOAJ
description In response to calls by feminist cultural theorists to develop means to unmask patriarchy, the system of power that lies at the heart of museums that maintain problematic hierarchical binaries of masculinity and femininity, we designed the Feminist Museum Hack. The Hack draws on theories of representation, feminist critical discourse analysis and visual methodologies/literacy to operate as a critical and creative practice that can be adapted to any museum context. The primary aim of the Hack – a methodology and pedagogy – is to provide a lens through which adults can see the unseen of patriarchy and how it hides so cleverly in plain sight in the museum’s practices of representation. In this article, we use examples of how we have used the Hack as researchers and educators in various museum settings to expose, decode and disrupt the hegemonic gendered messages in the images, displays, curatorial statements, labels and even in object placement and stagecrafting. We also show how the Hack functions as a practice of ‘direct agency’, a means to re-write and engage with museum narratives. We argue that the Hack is an important and innovative practice because it turns museums into spaces of ‘pedagogic possibility’ – sites where we can learn new strategies of feminist opposition to counter the male gaze and its ability to define women’s lives.
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spelling doaj.art-488c0bf079f74a43ab2c5f2a4c22a3862023-01-18T08:34:32ZengUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)AS: Andragoška Spoznanja1318-51602350-41882018-10-0124310.4312/as.24.3.11-28Dripping pink and blueDarlene CloverNancy Taber0Kathy Sanford1Brock UniversityUniversity of Victoria In response to calls by feminist cultural theorists to develop means to unmask patriarchy, the system of power that lies at the heart of museums that maintain problematic hierarchical binaries of masculinity and femininity, we designed the Feminist Museum Hack. The Hack draws on theories of representation, feminist critical discourse analysis and visual methodologies/literacy to operate as a critical and creative practice that can be adapted to any museum context. The primary aim of the Hack – a methodology and pedagogy – is to provide a lens through which adults can see the unseen of patriarchy and how it hides so cleverly in plain sight in the museum’s practices of representation. In this article, we use examples of how we have used the Hack as researchers and educators in various museum settings to expose, decode and disrupt the hegemonic gendered messages in the images, displays, curatorial statements, labels and even in object placement and stagecrafting. We also show how the Hack functions as a practice of ‘direct agency’, a means to re-write and engage with museum narratives. We argue that the Hack is an important and innovative practice because it turns museums into spaces of ‘pedagogic possibility’ – sites where we can learn new strategies of feminist opposition to counter the male gaze and its ability to define women’s lives. https://journals.uni-lj.si/AndragoskaSpoznanja/article/view/7924hackfeminist adult educationdiscourse analysisvisual methodologiesvisual literacydirect agency
spellingShingle Darlene Clover
Nancy Taber
Kathy Sanford
Dripping pink and blue
AS: Andragoška Spoznanja
hack
feminist adult education
discourse analysis
visual methodologies
visual literacy
direct agency
title Dripping pink and blue
title_full Dripping pink and blue
title_fullStr Dripping pink and blue
title_full_unstemmed Dripping pink and blue
title_short Dripping pink and blue
title_sort dripping pink and blue
topic hack
feminist adult education
discourse analysis
visual methodologies
visual literacy
direct agency
url https://journals.uni-lj.si/AndragoskaSpoznanja/article/view/7924
work_keys_str_mv AT darleneclover drippingpinkandblue
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AT kathysanford drippingpinkandblue