Case Study Participant 1

1. What would you say are the soft skills or attributes and types of knowledge that are necessary for getting started with decolonisation in a role that is similar to yours? 

Listening to stakeholders and willingness to engage equally and cede control. Self-awareness. Awareness of political dynamics and risk tolerance within own institution for such activity.

2. Please give examples of where soft skills and personal attributes have proven useful to you during any stage of collection-based decolonisation. 

Willingness to adjust my own professional understanding (and some handling protocols) of a collection artefact when observing source community descendants interact with family material.  

3. How can someone starting out in a similar role get an introduction to collection-based decolonisation and develop a basic skill-set/ knowledge/ awareness? What can this process entail? Please suggest any resources and approaches. 

You can read around the subject, but you will always learn most by finding stakeholder partners and doing it.

4. How does an advanced collection-based decolonisation skillset/ expert knowledge look like from your perspective (including soft and specialised skills)?

I’m not there yet, but I want to note that adequate time must be allocated for such a skillset to be developed and it rarely is. Such an expert will create around them a sustainable environment which is not defined by short impactful projects but a community of constant practice. That community is then supported by the expert with the resources, training it needs. With time I’d hope such an expert will have the confidence to experiment and innovate, and publish. The expert would be able to be realistic about timescales of making changes and the institutional resources needed, and be able to advocate effectively for them.  

5. How can someone in a similar role further develop their skills/ knowledge/ awareness in collection-based decolonisation and build an expert skill-set? What can this process entail? Please suggest any resources and approaches.

Networking, visits with professional colleagues. Stakeholder engagement: open and receptive rather than with predetermined objectives.

6. Please add any other thoughts or advice you may have for those who want to develop their skills and knowledge in collection-based decolonisation. 

This is also about opportunities for stakeholders’ skills development – perhaps even to diversify the workforce.