Ecologization Is Not a Metaphor: Museums in the Web of Life

Abstract

This article documents and critiques emerging accounts of museum “ecologization”. Drawing on political ecology, materialist theory, and contemporary museum practice, we challenge dominant frameworks of ecological modernization and advocate for a more critical understanding of museums in the web of life. Through a series of case studies and theoretical interventions, we distinguish three overarching models of ecologization in contemporary museological thinking and practice. The first is a discursive/representational shift—concerning the stories museums tell about ecology, nature, and the environment. The second is a material/operational shift—foregrounding the more-than-human relationalities that permeate museum phenomena and the transformation of specific practices towards sustainability and regeneration. The third is a social/political shift—framing ecologization as a strategy of resistance against intersecting forms of domination. We argue this third approach, though currently marginal, may prove the most vital expression of ecological praxis for the museum field.