Pedagogical Reckoning: Decolonizing and Degendering the Art Historical Canon in the Classroom and Museum

'Pedagogical Reckoning: Decolonizing and Degendering the Art Historical Canon in the Classroom and Museum' brings together leading voices in art history, museum studies, and pedagogy to confront the Eurocentric and patriarchal foundations of traditional art historical education. This timely anthology provides a range of actionable strategies for reshaping curricula, exhibitions, and research through the lenses of decoloniality, gender justice, and global inclusion.
Edited by Sooran Choi and Gillian Greenhill Hannum, the volume includes contributions from scholars, artists, and educators across institutional contexts—from large research universities to community colleges and art schools. Its chapters span three key areas: inclusive classroom pedagogy, critical museum and curatorial practice, and decolonial research methodologies. Essays explore intersectional frameworks informed by postcolonial theory, feminist critique, queer studies, and ethnic studies, while also providing practical tools such as sample assignments, case studies, and curatorial models.
Uniquely, this anthology integrates scholarly analysis with pedagogical reflection, offering readers both conceptual frameworks and concrete applications. It builds on recent literature such as 'Teaching South and Southeast Asian Art' and 'Expanding the Parameters of Feminist Artivism', while extending the conversation through its focus on classroom agency, community-responsive teaching, and institutional reckoning.
Ideal for art history instructors; museum professionals; and students in anthropology, cultural studies, and education, 'Pedagogical Reckoning' serves as both a critical resource and a methodological guide. It is suitable for classroom adoption, professional development, and curriculum planning, and will appeal to anyone committed to transforming the way we teach, curate, and write about art.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Contributors

Chapter 1
Introduction
Sooran Choi
University of Vermont

SECTION 1: In the Classroom/Pedagogy
Chapter 2
From Multiculturalism to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: How Teaching Art History Has Changed in the Twenty-First Century
Nancy Eder
State University of New York; Fashion Institute of Technology
Chapter 3
A Transformed Art History Classroom: Centering Students’ Voices, Concerns, Skill Sets, and Goals in the Art History Survey Course
Kelsey Frady Malone
Berea College
Chapter 4
Teaching Students How to Teach Their Own Cultural Heritage: A Case Study on Diversifying Perspectives in the Global Survey
Yan Yang
Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York
Chapter 5
Embracing Un-Diversity: Redefining a Non-Western Art Survey in a Large Classroom Setting
Bokyung Kim
University of Mississippi
Chapter 6
Towards an Inclusive Teaching of Latinx Art History
Ila N. Sheren
Washington University
Chapter 7
Outside the Canon in the Outer Boroughs: New Pedagogy for New York’s Architectural History
Anna Jozefacka
Independent Scholar
Malka Simon
Brooklyn College, City University of New York

SECTION 2: Museum Architecture and Curatorial Practice
Chapter 8
The Bias of Museum Architecture: Questioning the Neoclassical and Modernist Typology of Western Museums
Francesca Liuni
Rhode Island School of Design
Chapter 9
Unsettling Curatorial Practices through Museum Studies: A Case Study of Our ‘5 Things’ Assignment
Laura Phillips
University of Oklahoma
Chapter 10
Decolonizing ‘Appropriation’: Heritage, Cultural Tourism, and Curatorial Practices in the Global South
Kyunghee Pyun
State University of New York; Fashion Institute of TechnologySECTION 3: Decolonizing Methodology and Research
Chapter 11
Queering Art History: Decolonizing Approaches to Art and Visual Culture
Ace Lehner
University of Vermont
Chapter 12
Decolonizing Higher Education Research Praxis through the Frames of Nabudere, Fanon, and Asante
Victor J. Pitsoe
University of South Africa
Chapter 13
Afterword
Gillian Greenhill Hannum
Manhattanville University

Index

Sooran Choi is Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Vermont, where her teaching and research focus on decolonization, global feminism, ecocriticism, and contemporary East Asian art. Her work critically engages with marginalized artistic practices, Cold War visual culture, and alternative pedagogies that challenge Eurocentric and patriarchal art historical frameworks. She has published in Rebus, Multiple Modernisms, and Religion and the Arts, with essays on South Korean performance art, shamanism, gender fluidity, and subversive aesthetics. Her scholarly and curatorial experience directly shaped 'Pedagogical Reckoning', which synthesizes theory and practice to promote institutional change. Choi has received major fellowships from the College Art Association, the Academy of Korean Studies, and the Mellon Foundation. She has taught at CUNY, NYU, and UVM, designing inclusive, interdisciplinary curricula. She also co-leads national initiatives on Korean/Asian studies, integrating intersectional pedagogy into academic and cultural institutions.

Gillian Greenhill Hannum is a Professor Emerita of Art History at Manhattanville University in Purchase, New York, where she served on the faculty from 1987 to 2021. A photo historian with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from The Pennsylvania State University, she has published on photographic topics, has presented widely at national and international conferences, and has contributed to several books and exhibition catalogs. Most recently, she co-edited, with Kyunghee Pyun, 'Expanding the Parameters of Feminist Artivism' (2023) and a special issue of the journal 'Religion and the Arts' titled “Keeping the Faith: Religion, Gender, and the Arts in the Twenty-first Century” (2023). She continues to teach at Manhattanville on a part-time basis.

decolonization, Indigenous knowledge, African epistemology, queering, appropriation, artifacts, universal design, art history survey, critical pedagogy, canon critique, institutional critique, visual literacy, arts education reform, pedagogical equity, intersectionality in education, epistemic disobedience, critical museology, feminist pedagogy, inclusive curriculum design, decolonial aesthetics, anti-oppressive education, radical education theory, transnational pedagogy, art activism, knowledge production, critical race pedagogy, curatorial activism, educational justice