CONSTRUCTED ENCOUNTERS: PERFORMANCE AND THE COLONIAL GAZE IN THREE MASSACHUSETTS MUSEUMS

Museums are sites of participatory performance where historical narratives are framed as objective truths to be internalized by viewers. Thus, often, when American colonialism is presented museologically, visitors are invited to embody a colonial gaze. Three museums in Massachusetts illustrate the range of mechanisms at play in constructing this experience: Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth; the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston; and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, in Cambridge. These institutions share a geographic proximity to the site of the “Pilgrim” landing, and each presents American Indian art and history in ways that encourage the viewer to invest in maintaining the American founding myth.