ABSTRACT
Science museums and science centres are far from welcoming places for many people. Built quite literally during violent colonial expansion and the trans-Atlantic slave trade their funding, collections and the very fabric of their buildings are enmeshed in socio-political histories steeped in racism and its intersections with sexism, ableism, homophobia and class discrimination. In European science centers and museums these traumatic legacies of Empire often sit alongside celebrations of people, ideas and practices we find abhorrent today, such as the ‘science’ of eugenics. While such theories are widely denounced, they live on in science museums, in their statues of dead white men, the names of rooms, collections and buildings. In this chapter we explore how trying to address and redress these legacies in contemporary museum and science centre practices is a battle. The authors will discuss their work and experiences to discuss the opportunities and challenges of working to transform science museums and centers from decolonial, anti-racist and social justice perspectives.
