PUBLIC LECTURE: Emotional Objects: Australian Feminism goes to the Museum

A free public lecture by Dr Margaret Henderson, senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and a consultant to the National Museum of Australia, advising on a modern Australian women’s movement collection.

For the last two decades or so Western women’s movements have been engaged in the project of constructing the history of second wave feminism, while asking how we can adequately, indeed authentically, represent a women’s movement now in decline and confronting a generalised climate of feminist amnesia.

In looking for a politically efficacious feminist language of the recent past, Dr Henderson has been a consultant for the National Museum of Australia to propose a collection of ‘feminist objects’ to be part of the nation’s history in this premier institution. One of the unexpected consequences of this work was the extent to which such objects bear emotions and memories for their owners, and one of the challenges is how these personal histories can be translated into collective institutional memories.

This event is free and open to the public, no RSVP required.