Over the past year, Museum X, Royal Museums Greenwich and Black Beyond Data at Johns Hopkins University have been working with descendant community co-researchers testing approaches rooted in shared authority, lived experience, dialogue, care and community-led research to explore how collections connected to African presence, colonialism and their enduring legacies might be researched, interpreted and cared for differently.
This symposium brings together descendant co-researchers, artists, researchers and museum practitioners to share what we have learned, where the work has challenged us, and what more ethical and collaborative museum practice might require.
Black Beyond Data asks us to think beyond representation: what happens when communities help shape the questions, methods and decisions that sit behind museum practice?
Image credit: Fante flag - Essiamah from @royalmuseumsgreenwich
Agenda for the day
✨ Reflections and spotlight contributions from descendant community co-researchers
📄 Sharing Museum X’s emerging Ethical Framework for Working with Descendant Communities
🎥 Premiere of a new filmed conversation with descendent community co-researchers and collector Michael Graham-Stewart
🗣 Conversations on descendant-led research, shared authority and collaborative museum practice
🏛 Reflections from Royal Museums Greenwich on institutional learning and change
🌿 Creative practice, collective care and a closing grounding
Black Beyond Data: Working with Descendant Communities
20 November 2026
11:00 am
What changes when descendant communities move from participating in museum interpretation to helping shape the practice itself?
