27 November 2025 - 17.00
Stadscampus, s.C.1.03
Prinsstraat 13 – Antwerpen

Decolonising efforts in ethnographic museums have spanned decades, yet recent years have seen a notable acceleration as the issue gains prominence across the sector. While debates often centre on short-term initiatives—such as repatriation, community collaboration, and inclusive interpretation—this lecture seeks to complicate these narratives. Drawing on longitudinal research in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and Sweden, it brings attention to behind-the-scenes processes often overlooked. It argues that decolonisation must be understood as a long-term, multifaceted endeavour shaped by diverse professionals, forms of expertise, and epistemological frameworks. Meaningful change requires museums to engage in deep organisational transformation and rethink how knowledge is produced. By shifting the lens from outcomes to processes, the lecture invites a reimagining of what meaningful decolonisation entails.

About Serena Iervolino

Dr Serena Iervolino is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Critical Museology at King’s College London, where she also serves as Impact and Engagement Co-Lead. Her research investigates how museums respond to post-colonial challenges through institutional transformation, collaborative practice, EDI strategies, and decolonisation processes. She is currently writing a monograph on decolonisation in European ethnographic museums, based on longitudinal fieldwork. Dr Iervolino works in close partnership with museums, activists, and scholars to foster sectoral change and rethink curatorial practice. Her research—both individual and collaborative—has been supported by major funders including the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council and Qatar National Research Fund. Through critically engaged scholarship, she contributes to reimagining the civic and epistemic role of contemporary museums. Currently, she is an FWO-funded Research Fellow at the University of Antwerp’s ARCHES group. Previously, Dr Iervolino was the Vice-Chair of ICOM's International Committee for Museums and Collections of Ethnography (2022-25) and held academic positions at the University of Leicester, University of Warwick, UCL Qatar, and the Science Museum.