Authority and coloniality of the ICOM museum definition : The dramatic microcosm of a decolonial global definition

This thesis explores the presence of coloniality in the International Council of Museum's museum definition through analysis of the 2019 definition attempt and the 2022 definition. Decolonial theory, coined by Aníbal Quijano Obregón, in conjunction with some authorised heritage discouse, by Laurajane Smith, form the basis for analysis of the material. The study uses official data gathered from the two definition processes, in addition to a report from ICOM France as well as a report of my own from 2019, as the corpus for analysis. Part of the material is also the publications and discussions surrounding the definition, as well as a look into the regional distrubutions within the core group responsible for the process. The results show that though the 2022 definition process can be considered more decolonial than that of 2019, there is still deeprooted coloniality which permeates the museum definition process. Furthermore, the results highlight how Europe had more participating national committees overall in the discussions leading to the museum definition. However, the participation of the Latin American national committees by percentage outshone all the other regions. With a decolonial museum definition and process it allows for the inclusion and growth of the museum landscape. It is therefore of value to work reflexively, especially as an international organitsation, when representing a larger and diverse group. This is what the thesis highlights throughout, adding to the discussion of the museum definition process and decolonial thinking in the microcosm surrounding ICOM.