杏吧原创

Dr. Monica Eileen Patterson is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Assistant Director of Curatorial Studies in the Institute for the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture at 杏吧原创 University. She earned her doctorate in Anthropology and History and a certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Prior to joining the faculty at 杏吧原创, she was a Banting Fellow at the Center for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence at Concordia University, and a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa.

Patterson is co-editor of several articles and two books:听听(Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and听 (University of Michigan Press, 2011). Currently, she is completing a manuscript that examines the multiple and contested understandings of childhood in late-apartheid South Africa.

Her latest SSHRC-funded project, 鈥淎 New, Critical Children鈥檚 Museology鈥� identifies and develops approaches to producing exhibit content not just for or about children, but by and with children across the globe. Patterson鈥檚 research project draws together recent interventions in the fields of Childhood Studies, Curatorial Studies, and Museum Studies to ask: How would museum work change if children were to be included, not just as subjects or target audience members, but as active participants and co-creators of museum content and programming? Addressing this question will fill a gap in our knowledge by helping forge a new field she calls 鈥淐ritical Children鈥檚 Museology.鈥�

When travel and face-to-face interactions are once again possible, Patterson will focus her efforts on developing an innovative, child-centred methodology that uses community-based, collaborative curating with children to produce and document new knowledge about children鈥檚 experiences and perspectives in contemporary South Africa.

Patterson is also a lead investigator on the SSHRC-funded Partnership Development project,听听which brings together听international scholars, students, museum professionals, and community representatives from 20 museums, universities, and NGOs in Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, and the USA. Working in 5 thematic research groups that amplify perspectives under-represented in the museum world (Critical Race Museology, Museum Queeries, Unsettling and Indigenizing Museology, National Heritage and Traumatic Memory, and Children’s Museology), the group seeks to establish听new terms of engagement for learning from histories of violence and conflict.听After a successful 3-year development phase, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada has awarded the Thinking Through the Museum (TTTM) research network an additional 7-year, $2.5 million dollar听听for 2021-2028.

Pressure on museums to work for social justice in light of the Black Lives Matter, Rhodes Must Fall, and #MeToo movements, Canada鈥檚 Truth and Reconciliation Commission鈥檚 Calls to Action, and the COVID-19 and refugee crises, are among the motivations for TTTM鈥檚 work. Going beyond traditional academic approaches of arm鈥檚-length criticism, TTTM collaborates across sectors to creatively respond to colonial and other oppressive legacies. The team will work within museum settings to co-produce exhibitions and design tools to challenge elite institutional knowledge systems, and beyond their walls to explore alternative heritage mobilization in festivals, grassroots archives, and site-based curating, where communities can set their own agendas.

As a scholar, curator, and activist, her work explores the intersections of memory, childhood, and racism in postcolonial Africa and beyond, and the ways in which they are represented and engaged in contemporary public spheres.

You can access Professor Patterson鈥檚 full cv and many of her publications on .

Research Interests

• Children’s Museology
• Childhood, memory, and violence
• Apartheid and contemporary South Africa
• Colonization, decolonization, and comparative racisms
• Visual culture
• Curating
• Museums, public history, and heritage
• Public scholarship, community engagement, and social justice

Cross-appointments:

Department of Anthropology; Department of History; Institute of African Studies; School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies; Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art, and Culture (ICSLAC)

Dr. Patterson is currently accepting highly motivated graduate students and welcomes inquiries about specific areas of supervision.

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Awards

Partnership Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 鈥淭hinking through the Museum: A听Partnership听Approach to Curating Difficult Knowledge in Public鈥� (2021-2028).

Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 鈥淎 New, Critical Children鈥檚 Museology,鈥� (2019-2022).

Development Grant- Explore, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 鈥淐ommunity-based, Collaborative Curating with Children in Cape Town鈥� (2019-2022).

Partnership Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 鈥溾�� (2015-2018).

, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 鈥淒emocratizing history: Remembering childhood in and after apartheid South Africa (2012-2014).

Image, Text, Sound, & Technology Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 鈥淐urating Difficult Knowledge鈥� team grant (2010-2012).

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Concordia University, Centre for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence (CEREV) and Department of History, Universit茅 de Montr茅al, Canada (2010-2012).

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Select Publications

Edited Books

, Erica Lehrer, Cynthia Milton, and Monica Eileen Patterson, eds. (Houndmills, Basingstoke Hampshire; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

, Edward Murphy, David William Cohen, Chandra D. Bhimull, Fernando Coronil, Monica Eileen Patterson, and Julie Skurski, eds. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011).

Guest Edited Special Issues of Journals

Themed Double Issue: “Children鈥檚 Art in Times of Crisis” (Volumes I and II).听Global Studies of Childhood. Volume 11, Issues 1 and 2, edited and authored two Editorial Introductions with Hannah听Dyer (in press/2021).

Book Chapters

, Curatorial Dreams: Critics Imagine Exhibitions, Erica Lehrer and Shelley Ruth Butler, eds. (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2016).

, Oral History Off the Record: Toward an Ethnography of Practice. Palgrave Studies in Oral History, Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki, eds. (New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

, Curating Difficult Knowledge: Violent Pasts in Public Places, Erica Lehrer, Cynthia Milton, and Monica Eileen Patterson, eds. (UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

W or the Memory of Childhood,鈥� Anthrohistory: Unsettling Knowledge and Questioning Discipline, Edward Murphy, David William Cohen, et al., eds. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011).

, with Chandra Bhimull and Edward Murphy, Anthrohistory: Unsettling Knowledge and Questioning Discipline, Edward Murphy, David William Cohen, et al., eds. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011).

, The Art of Truth-Telling about Authoritarian Rule, Ksenija Bilibja, Jo Ellen Fair, Cynthia Milton, and Leigh Payne, eds. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005).

Responsibility in Crisis: Knowledge Politics and Global Publics, David William Cohen and Michael D. Kennedy, eds. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

鈥淓choes of Experience: Encountering Children and Childhood in the Canadian History Hall,鈥� with Rebecca Friend.听Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures听(forthcoming).

鈥淭oward a Critical Children鈥檚 Museology: The Anything Goes Exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw.鈥澨齅useum & Society,听(forthcoming).

鈥溾�澨鼵ollections. Co-authored with Rebecca Friend (2020).

Online Journal Publications

鈥溾�澨鼳merican Alliance of Museums. (2020).

translated into Polish by Zuzanna 艁opaci艅ska-Pi臋del, Laboratorium muzeum. Pami臋膰 [Museum Laboratory. Memory]. Anna Bana艣 Aleksandra Janus, editors, Dom Spotka艅 z Histori膮 Instytucja kultury [History Meeting House Institution of Culture, publisher] 2019, pp 54-91.

, with Erica Lehrer. Anthropology News. American Anthropological Association, In Focus, (September 2011).

Journal of the International Institute, vol. 10, no. 2 (Winter 2003).

Journal of the International Institute, vol. 9, no. 2 (Winter 2002).

Journalistic Writing and Public Scholarship

Podcast interview by Martha Attridge Bufton:听鈥�”听(June 12, 2021)

鈥�,鈥澨齌he Conversation (March 17, 2021)

听The Conversation, 25, Feb, 2019.

guest blog, FASS Newsletter, 杏吧原创 University (January 11, 2016)

Encyclopedia Entries

鈥淪aartjie Baartman/Sarah Bartman,鈥� 鈥淏antu Education,鈥� 鈥淎nton Lembede,鈥� and 鈥淪oweto Student Uprising,鈥� Encyclopedia of South Africa, Krista Johnson and Sean Jacobs, eds. (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Press, 2011).

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Conference Report Contributions

鈥淎ddressing Inequalities and Children鈥檚 Right to Play,鈥� in 鈥淩esponse to Shaking the Movers VII Report鈥�, Children鈥檚 Rights Academic Network (Spring 2015): 33-37.

Curated Exhibits

Children鈥檚 Rights in Africa, in collaboration with students from my Advanced Topics seminar, 鈥淭he History of 鈥榯he African Child鈥欌�� exhibited at the annual Institute of African Studies conference, 鈥淗uman Rights and the Public Sphere鈥�, 杏吧原创 University, Ottawa (March 4-5, 2016), curator.

Palestinian-Canadian Life Stories, online exhibit (2012-14), curatorial advisor.

Contested Childhoods in Apartheid South Africa: Linking Past and Present, Ethnographic Terminalia, 110^th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Montr茅al (November 16-20, 2011), curator.

Apartheid and Resistance: An Exhibit in Honor of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for his visit to receive the Wallenberg Medal for Outstanding Humanitarianism. Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, University of Michigan (Oct. 10-Dec. 19, 2008), curator.

The Girl Child in South Africa, in collaboration with 15 girls from the Children鈥檚 Resource Centre, Cape Town, South Africa (October-December 2006), co-curator.

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Public Humanities Projects
Walking Tour

an experimental walking tour of Ottawa鈥檚 Parliamentary Precinct, speaker and co-organizer (September 26, 2016).

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Film Production

Executive Producer with Erica Lehrer for CDK Productions. Dir: Florencia Marchetti and Alejandro Yoshizawa. Authored an online 鈥淰iewer鈥檚 Guide for A Storyteller鈥檚 Story鈥� (2012).

Audio Productions

鈥淭alking about Tourists and Heritage that Hurts: A Conversation with Joy Sather-Wagstaff,鈥� a 35-minute interview with Sather-Wagstaff, keynote speaker for Concordia鈥檚 Annual Lecture in Public History (Dec. 1, 2011).

鈥淯sing Objects of Intolerance to Teach Tolerance: An Interview with David Pilgrim, founding director of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia in Big Rapids, Michigan,鈥� in collaboration with Caroline Kunzle. 15-minute broadcast on CKUT 90.3 FM as part of the 鈥淩adio Works!鈥� series of the Life Stories Montr茅al Oral History Project (Aired March 28, 2011).

Recent Invited Talks and Keynotes

“Curating Difficult Knowledge,” invited talk, Curatorial Practice Workshop, The Palestinian Museum, June 23, 2021.

鈥淭oward a Critical Children鈥檚 Museology: Some Recent Examples from Warsaw,鈥� keynote for the 3rd Annual Symposium, Institute for Child and Youth Studies, University of Lethbridge and the Galt Museum and Archives, Lethbridge, Alberta (April 8, 2019).

鈥淐ritical Curating in Complex Times,鈥� Ethnographic Museum of Krakow, Poland (December 8, 2018).

鈥淭oward a New Critical Children鈥檚 Museology,鈥� public talk, Museum Lab speaker series, Warsaw, Poland (December 7, 2018).

鈥淩evealing the Past,鈥� Luncheon address. 23^rd Annual Underhill Graduate Student Colloquium, History Department, 杏吧原创 University (March 9, 2017).

鈥淐urating Difficult Knowledge with Children,鈥� Museum Openings: Caring for Difficult Knowledge Within and Beyond the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Invitational Workshop, University of Winnipeg (Sept 19-21, 2014).

鈥淔rom Golliwogs to Gangstas: Historicizing Racial Caricatures of African Americans,鈥� in Panel titled 鈥淟ittle Black Sambos, Cigar Store Indians鈥�and Lucky Jews with Coins? Minorities, Kitsch, and Stereotypes on Both Sides of the Atlantic,鈥� 23rd Annual Jewish Culture Festival, Krakow, Poland (July 2, 2013).

鈥淭oward a Public History of Childhood in South Africa,鈥� Keynote Address. College of Arts and Humanities 50^th Anniversary Celebration, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida (March 19, 2013).

鈥淯nsettling the Dominant Myths of Healing: The Power of 鈥楪ood Stories鈥� in South Africa鈥檚 Truth and Reconciliation Commission鈥� Culture and Mental Health Research Unit Meetings, Division of Social and Cultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montr茅al (February 20, 2013).

Conferences and Colloquia Organized

Institute of African Studies Brown Bag Speaker Series. Organized and hosted six visiting speakers for the monthly brown bag talks: Duncan Scott, Wangui Kimari, Jenny Doubt, Yolanda Covington-Ward, David Black, and Kamari Clark. (August 2016- April 2017).

, a workshop for SSHRC PDG project 鈥淭hinking through the Museum: Difficult Knowledge in Public,鈥� 杏吧原创 University (April 15-19, 2016).

Work Group, Convenor, 9^th Annual Hemispheric Institute Encuentro, Montr茅al, Canada (June 21-28, 2014).

, Centre for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence (CEREV), Concordia University (April 11, 2014).

, International Conference, Concordia University (October 7-9, 2013).

, Montr茅al African Studies Working Group Inaugural Conference, McGill and Concordia Universities. (April 28-May 1, 2013).

Teaching

Graduate

-CURA 5000: 鈥淐uratorial Studies Proseminar: Introduction to Curatorial Studies鈥�

Undergraduate

-CHST 1000: 鈥淚ntroduction to Child Studies: Childhoods in the Global Context鈥�
-CHST 4003/AFRI 4003/HIST 4915: 鈥淗istory of 鈥榯he African Child鈥欌�� Advanced Topics Seminar
-CHST 3004: 鈥淧racticum in Community Settings鈥�

-CHST 3009: 鈥淪ervice-Learning in Community Settings鈥�
-CHST 3101:听 鈥淩esearch Seminar鈥�

Doctoral Supervision

Rebecca Friend, “Conceptualizing Children, Childhood and Youth in Canada鈥檚 Museums,” recipient of the Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship,听(PhD, Public History, 2021-present)

Casey Gray, 鈥淭oward a renewed curatorial ethic: the circulation and agency of human remains within critical heritage discourse and museum practice,鈥� (PhD, Cultural Mediations, co-supervising with Jerzy Elzanowski, 2019-present)

Ivonne Marais, 鈥淐olonial Rhizomes: The Impact of Colonial Practices in Africa on European Museums,鈥� (PhD, Cultural Mediations, 2019-present)

Pansee Abou Elatta, 鈥�(How) Do Communities Represent Themselves? A study of community-based representational processes within and outside cultural institutions,鈥� (PhD, Cultural Mediations, co-supervising with Ming Tiampo, 2017-present)

Vivianna Boil猫s-L茅onard, 鈥淎nti-Apartheid commemoration: The politics of memory and听heritage value in South Africa鈥� (PhD, Anthropology, ongoing).

Lameck Zingano, 鈥淐ontested histories: The politics of memory in postcolonial Zimbabwe鈥� (PhD, Anthropology, ongoing).

Master of Arts Supervision

Selam Abebe,听鈥淧olitics will do nothing for you鈥�: Explorations of Political Identity Formation in the Ethiopian Canadian Diaspora,” (MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies, 2021-present)

, 鈥淗ollow Castings: Commemorations and Canadian Childhood,鈥� MRE (MA, Public History, 2018-2020)

Barbara Reilly, 鈥淢onumental meaning-making: Interpreting gravestones in Ontario鈥檚 rural cemeteries鈥� (MA, Anthropology, September 2016).

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Supervision

Zoe Musafiri, 鈥淐olor in the Classroom: Black Youth鈥檚 Experiences of Race-based Discrimination鈥� (April 2018-April 2019)

Dayna Goldfarb, 鈥淯nderstanding Children鈥檚 Perspectives on the Definitions and Importance of Play鈥� (April 2018-April 2019)

Stacie Kerr, 鈥淓lectronic vs. Printed Text 鈥� Exploring Media Platforms鈥� Differing Effects on Elementary School Students鈥� Reading Comprehension鈥� (co-supervisor with Carol Rowan, April 2016-April 2017)

Selam Abebe, 鈥溾�榃hat are You?鈥�:听 An In-depth look at Mixed Race Childhood Experiences in Canada鈥�, awarded the 2016 Provost Scholar Award for outstanding academic achievement (August 2016).

听Bet眉l Alaca, 鈥淯nderstanding Communities through the Eyes and Voices of Children,鈥� awarded the 杏吧原创 University Medal in Arts for her thesis (April 2015).

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