Meg Pinto
Education
2014 Phd in Art History, Sainsbury Research Unit, UEA (UK)
2009 MA in the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK)
2004 BA in Anthropology, University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada)
Research Interests
Critical museology, (post)colonialism, memory studies, psychological anthropology, trauma and recovery, aboriginal rights, Northwest Coast cultures.
PhD Thesis
Recovering Canada: Overcoming Trauma in Canadian Museums
My current research focuses on museums in Canada and attempts to devise a new methodology for how museums can effectively work with communities recovering from trauma. Underlying the issue is the premise that many museums across the country have built successful relationships with Aboriginal peoples, but are unequipped to manage the subject of historical trauma, which has traditionally been avoided in museum display. Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is currently hearing testimony as to the gross human rights abuses committed under the residential school system. A key step toward reconciliation will be educating the Canadian public about the facets of the past that have historically been hidden, covered, or denied. Museums are clearly implicated in this process and may have a role in exhibiting a more complete version of history than permanent galleries currently provide. By examining the museum itself as severely limited by historical trauma, I attempt to devise new working models for museums, based primarily on concepts of reconciliation.