Helena Robinson
Biographic Data
| ID | 284054 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helena Robinson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helena |
| FAMILY NAME | Robinson |
| SIGNATURE | ROBINSON H |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0717-4639 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 29 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Constructive discussion
Increased polarisation and unwillingness to engage with difference create obstacles to addressing complex societal challenges. This can be observed across numerous countries in relation to controversial issues such as climate change, immigration, inequality, housing affordability and racial justice. In this article, we explore the potential for ‘constructive discussion’ to help address these societal challenges. Constructive discussion emphasises…
Developing a holistic and collaborative approach for the archaeology of Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland
Australian South Sea Islanders are a distinctive cultural group comprising descendants of over 60000 labourers who came to Australia from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and elsewhere in the Western Pacific between 1863 and 1904. “Blackbirded” labourers were commonly referred to as victims of a slave trade, though many also came voluntarily to work in the sugar plantations of northern New South Wales and Queensland. The advent of racist exclusionary imm…
Research Protocol
Holocaust museums around the world are distinctive in their emphasis on educational missions premised on the idea of 'never again', a deep belief that increasing public awareness of the history and contemporary significance of the Holocaust - the mass murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi regime during World War Two - can prevent the future recurrence of such events. In the Australian context, tens of thousands of school students visit …
The Future of Museums
The following conversation took place on 18 May 2021 during a panel discussion to coincide with marking the six months since the opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, along with the annual occurrence of International Museum Day
Debating the 'museum
What is a museum? Though seemingly obvious, the answer to this question has eluded the international museum sector since a controversial redraft of the official definition, put forward by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 2019, was dramatically rejected by its own membership. As deliberations about what constitutes a museum continue ahead of ICOM’s next General Conference in 2022, this article provides a quantitative content analysis…
Curating good participants? Audiences, democracy and authority in the contemporary museum
Public participation has become axiomatic in contemporary museum theory and practice. In the absence of consensus about the fundamental principles of participatory museology and what participation looks like in practice, the term is now routinely attached to a heterogenous array of museum-stakeholder interactions. This article interrogates the rhetoric of participatory museology by critically examining its intellectual roots, followed by a prelim…
Cultural policy, local government and museums
This article examines cultural policy developments affecting the Australian local government sector arguing for policy that directly addresses the operational needs of small to medium museums. Over a period spanning roughly three decades, national and state government involvement in ‘community’ cultural programmes has decreased, with local authorities assuming primary funding responsibility; a process I call the ‘municipalisation of culture’. The…
Is cultural democracy possible in a museum? Critical reflections on Indigenous engagement in the development of the exhibitionEncounters
Recent museological scholarship emphasises visitor participation and democratic access to cultural heritage as key to securing the ongoing relevance and future sustainability of museums. But do legacies of colonialist collecting practices and hierarchical conventions of representation in museums afford the possibility of genuine cultural democracy? This paper explores this question via detailed analysis of the Encounters exhibition, developed by …
Encountering complexity
Exposing one’s research to scrutiny – indeed, inviting it – can be an intimidating prospect. When a paper deals with the charged subject of museum interpretation of Indigenous cultural material, th
Curating convergence
This article is concerned with the phenomenon of convergence (institutional integration) of museums, libraries, archives and other cultural facilities. It investigates how such amalgamations impact the capacity of curatorial and collections staff to carry out interpretive practices, including object research, documentation and exhibition development. Through thematic content analysis of staff interviews conducted at five case studies of local gov…
A lot of people going that extra mile
Much anticipation exists around the potential for the convergence of museums, libraries, archives and galleries to act as a catalyst for the cross-fertilisation of professional skills and roles across traditional domain boundaries. International scholarship and professional literature surrounding the virtual and physical integration of collecting institutions promises new opportunities for collaboration between previously ‘siloed’ disciplines, en…
Knowledge utopias
Convergence of museums, libraries and archives is a trend that has manifested itself internationally within the last decade. Its incorporation into government cultural policies has led to significant investment and the formation of new institutions in a number of countries, while provoking discussion across the library, archives and museum sectors. Improved knowledge acquisition for users of collections is often cited as justification for converg…
Remembering things differently
In Australia and internationally, museums, libraries and archives are often described as 'memory institutions' in discussions about their possible convergence in the digital and physical realms. Yet a wider variety of organisations, such as schools, universities, media corporations, government or religious bodies could also legitimately be ascribed this title. In what special ways do museums, libraries and archives engage with the concept of 'mem…
Digital Knowledgescapes
This chapter examines how documentation and interpretation of museum collections within databases can be reconceptualized to form new knowledge models in line with contemporary theoretical and pedagogical public access concerns, as well as the capabilities of emerging technological innovation. Drawing on the findings of two research projects called Knowledge Objects and Themescaping Virtual Collections, it discusses the theoretical, cultural, and…
Is cultural democracy possible in a museum? Critical reflections on Indigenous engagement in the development of the exhibitionEncounters
Recent museological scholarship emphasises visitor participation and democratic access to cultural heritage as key to securing the ongoing relevance and future sustainability of museums. But do legacies of colonialist collecting practices and hierarchical conventions of representation in museums afford the possibility of genuine cultural democracy? This paper explores this question via detailed analysis of the Encounters exhibition, developed by …
Cultural policy, local government and museums
This article examines cultural policy developments affecting the Australian local government sector arguing for policy that directly addresses the operational needs of small to medium museums. Over a period spanning roughly three decades, national and state government involvement in ‘community’ cultural programmes has decreased, with local authorities assuming primary funding responsibility; a process I call the ‘municipalisation of culture’. The…
Remembering things differently
In Australia and internationally, museums, libraries and archives are often described as 'memory institutions' in discussions about their possible convergence in the digital and physical realms. Yet a wider variety of organisations, such as schools, universities, media corporations, government or religious bodies could also legitimately be ascribed this title. In what special ways do museums, libraries and archives engage with the concept of 'mem…
Curating good participants? Audiences, democracy and authority in the contemporary museum
Public participation has become axiomatic in contemporary museum theory and practice. In the absence of consensus about the fundamental principles of participatory museology and what participation looks like in practice, the term is now routinely attached to a heterogenous array of museum-stakeholder interactions. This article interrogates the rhetoric of participatory museology by critically examining its intellectual roots, followed by a prelim…
Curating convergence
This article is concerned with the phenomenon of convergence (institutional integration) of museums, libraries, archives and other cultural facilities. It investigates how such amalgamations impact the capacity of curatorial and collections staff to carry out interpretive practices, including object research, documentation and exhibition development. Through thematic content analysis of staff interviews conducted at five case studies of local gov…
Research Protocol
Holocaust museums around the world are distinctive in their emphasis on educational missions premised on the idea of 'never again', a deep belief that increasing public awareness of the history and contemporary significance of the Holocaust - the mass murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi regime during World War Two - can prevent the future recurrence of such events. In the Australian context, tens of thousands of school students visit …
Encountering complexity
Exposing one’s research to scrutiny – indeed, inviting it – can be an intimidating prospect. When a paper deals with the charged subject of museum interpretation of Indigenous cultural material, th
A lot of people going that extra mile
Much anticipation exists around the potential for the convergence of museums, libraries, archives and galleries to act as a catalyst for the cross-fertilisation of professional skills and roles across traditional domain boundaries. International scholarship and professional literature surrounding the virtual and physical integration of collecting institutions promises new opportunities for collaboration between previously ‘siloed’ disciplines, en…
Knowledge utopias
Convergence of museums, libraries and archives is a trend that has manifested itself internationally within the last decade. Its incorporation into government cultural policies has led to significant investment and the formation of new institutions in a number of countries, while provoking discussion across the library, archives and museum sectors. Improved knowledge acquisition for users of collections is often cited as justification for converg…
Digital Knowledgescapes
This chapter examines how documentation and interpretation of museum collections within databases can be reconceptualized to form new knowledge models in line with contemporary theoretical and pedagogical public access concerns, as well as the capabilities of emerging technological innovation. Drawing on the findings of two research projects called Knowledge Objects and Themescaping Virtual Collections, it discusses the theoretical, cultural, and…
Remembering things differently
In Australia and internationally, museums, libraries and archives are often described as 'memory institutions' in discussions about their possible convergence in the digital and physical realms. Yet a wider variety of organisations, such as schools, universities, media corporations, government or religious bodies could also legitimately be ascribed this title. In what special ways do museums, libraries and archives engage with the concept of 'mem…
Knowledge utopias
Convergence of museums, libraries and archives is a trend that has manifested itself internationally within the last decade. Its incorporation into government cultural policies has led to significant investment and the formation of new institutions in a number of countries, while provoking discussion across the library, archives and museum sectors. Improved knowledge acquisition for users of collections is often cited as justification for converg…
Curating convergence
This article is concerned with the phenomenon of convergence (institutional integration) of museums, libraries, archives and other cultural facilities. It investigates how such amalgamations impact the capacity of curatorial and collections staff to carry out interpretive practices, including object research, documentation and exhibition development. Through thematic content analysis of staff interviews conducted at five case studies of local gov…
A lot of people going that extra mile
Much anticipation exists around the potential for the convergence of museums, libraries, archives and galleries to act as a catalyst for the cross-fertilisation of professional skills and roles across traditional domain boundaries. International scholarship and professional literature surrounding the virtual and physical integration of collecting institutions promises new opportunities for collaboration between previously ‘siloed’ disciplines, en…
Is cultural democracy possible in a museum? Critical reflections on Indigenous engagement in the development of the exhibitionEncounters
Recent museological scholarship emphasises visitor participation and democratic access to cultural heritage as key to securing the ongoing relevance and future sustainability of museums. But do legacies of colonialist collecting practices and hierarchical conventions of representation in museums afford the possibility of genuine cultural democracy? This paper explores this question via detailed analysis of the Encounters exhibition, developed by …
Encountering complexity
Exposing one’s research to scrutiny – indeed, inviting it – can be an intimidating prospect. When a paper deals with the charged subject of museum interpretation of Indigenous cultural material, th
Cultural policy, local government and museums
This article examines cultural policy developments affecting the Australian local government sector arguing for policy that directly addresses the operational needs of small to medium museums. Over a period spanning roughly three decades, national and state government involvement in ‘community’ cultural programmes has decreased, with local authorities assuming primary funding responsibility; a process I call the ‘municipalisation of culture’. The…
Curating good participants? Audiences, democracy and authority in the contemporary museum
Public participation has become axiomatic in contemporary museum theory and practice. In the absence of consensus about the fundamental principles of participatory museology and what participation looks like in practice, the term is now routinely attached to a heterogenous array of museum-stakeholder interactions. This article interrogates the rhetoric of participatory museology by critically examining its intellectual roots, followed by a prelim…
Debating the 'museum
What is a museum? Though seemingly obvious, the answer to this question has eluded the international museum sector since a controversial redraft of the official definition, put forward by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 2019, was dramatically rejected by its own membership. As deliberations about what constitutes a museum continue ahead of ICOM’s next General Conference in 2022, this article provides a quantitative content analysis…
The Future of Museums
The following conversation took place on 18 May 2021 during a panel discussion to coincide with marking the six months since the opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, along with the annual occurrence of International Museum Day
Developing a holistic and collaborative approach for the archaeology of Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland
Australian South Sea Islanders are a distinctive cultural group comprising descendants of over 60000 labourers who came to Australia from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and elsewhere in the Western Pacific between 1863 and 1904. “Blackbirded” labourers were commonly referred to as victims of a slave trade, though many also came voluntarily to work in the sugar plantations of northern New South Wales and Queensland. The advent of racist exclusionary imm…
Research Protocol
Holocaust museums around the world are distinctive in their emphasis on educational missions premised on the idea of 'never again', a deep belief that increasing public awareness of the history and contemporary significance of the Holocaust - the mass murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi regime during World War Two - can prevent the future recurrence of such events. In the Australian context, tens of thousands of school students visit …
Constructive discussion
Increased polarisation and unwillingness to engage with difference create obstacles to addressing complex societal challenges. This can be observed across numerous countries in relation to controversial issues such as climate change, immigration, inequality, housing affordability and racial justice. In this article, we explore the potential for ‘constructive discussion’ to help address these societal challenges. Constructive discussion emphasises…
Museums and Cultural Heritage (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation (9 works) · History (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Archaeology (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Visual arts (5 works)