How do we actually make museums more diverse? (with Peggy Levitt)

Vote for Call 'Em Like Museum in the 2026 Signal Awards Good museums are centers of art, culture, and education. But the richest and most famous museums are clustered in North America and Europe, and that matters more than you might realize. Sociologist and Wellesley College professor Peggy Levitt describes herself as a decenterer for just that reason. In her books "Artifacts and Allegiances" and "Move Over Mona Lisa," she has explored how art has been shaped by colonialism, globalization and inequality. In "Move Over Mona Lisa," Peggy asks what it might take to decenter this world. Historically, she explains, many well-intentioned museums have diversified their collection by invited artists from the Global South to relocate to Paris, London, or New York. But the center has not moved. "There are people that are looking for a harder reform," Peggy says. "So they are happy to take less critical acclaim, less financial acclaim, if they can create their own institutions, their own networks of circulation, their own nodes of activity that don't rely on North America or Europe for permission or facilitation." Today on Call 'Em Like Museum, we talk about how museums can represent the whole world more fairly; whether artists in the Global South should entirely opt out of the existing systems; and the importance of "having a spine" when your museum comes under scrutiny from donors & politicians. Full transcript of this episode Subscribe to the newsletter This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod Chapters (00:00) - Introduction (04:11) - Museums and Nation Building (13:53) - Culture Wars at the Smithsonian (15:32) - How to Read Power in Museum Spaces (21:11) - Globalization, Colonialism, and Immigration (25:53) - Who Drives Change in Museums? (30:37) - Move Over, Mona Lisa: Decentering Art (36:49) - Opting Out of Traditional Centers of Power (40:41) - Standing Up to Museum Donors (42:38) - Gift Shops and Favorite Museums Music: www.purple-planet.com Peggy's Books: Artifacts and Allegiances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display Move Over, Mona Lisa: Reimagining What We Read, Look At, and Learn Images: Met Christmas Tree Danish Vikings Museum of Islamic Art National Museum of Singapore Smithsonian National Museum of American History Musée nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration