Telling, Showing, Showing Off and Extrapolating from Mieke Bal

In Telling, Showing, Showing off, Mieke Bal argues that racism and ethnocentrism are inherent in the layout of the American Museum. Western hegemony manifests itself in the manner in which the displays are organized--exhibits of "other" peoples and animals are shafted under and behind those from other cultures. While Mieke explicitly states that by accepting this layout as natural and refusing to engage in self-critical discourse the museum "has turned its luck into a lack," I wonder how the museum SHOULD be organized-- by remedying the juxtapostion of animals and foreign peoples, by facilitating "self-reflection" (thinking about the African peoples exhibit in particular), and by carefully evaluating underlying assumptions (for example, "the idea that wider political entities would be better than small scale political organization remains unargued"). In essence, my question is what do these theoretical concepts (self-criticism throughout the showing process rather than showing-off, careful assesment of all presumptions) look like in concrete form?

Thinking about the previous article "Telling, Showing, Showing Off" and the importance of integrating exhibits with self-criticism, I wonder if perhaps it is not better to continue the tradition of Zwarte Piet in the manner Mieke Bal has begun-- to question its underlying assumptions but still continue the practice itself. To showcase the ugliness of the tradition and yet still mark its place in Dutch society...I have been thinking about James E Young's work on Holocaust memorials (my original research project) and how these monuments or practices refresh collective memory and in fact deter a repeat event.