Emma Dennison, a graduate student in Museum Studies, identified a gap in her field: the scarcity of research on spiritual inclusivity in the museum workplace. She sought my guidance in the nearby Design and Visual Communications program, where I was then located at the University of Florida. Emma had the idea of designing a handbook for museum professionals, instructing them on how to welcome people with spiritual practices in the workplace. We collaborated to transform her idea into a series of speculative design experiments, which we hope will foster more research collaborations between Design Studies, my field, and Critical Museum Studies, her field.
Her master’s thesis, Spiritual Diversity in the Museum Workplace: The Challenge of Balancing Inclusivity and Common Ground, combines policy analysis with design-led inquiry to examine how museums in the United States handle—or fail to handle—religious and spiritual identity among staff. While museums have developed extensive protocols for the care, exhibition, and repatriation of religious objects, Dennison shows that comparable attention has not been given to the lived experiences of religious and spiritual museum professionals.
A significant portion of the research consists of a systematic review of policy documents, ethical codes, and professional resources produced by major museum organizations, including the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and other national and international bodies. To move beyond policy critique, the project employed speculative design methods, using thought experiments and hypothetical workplace scenarios as a form of design intervention. These scenarios serve as designed research instruments, simulating plausible situations that fall outside existing policies, thereby allowing ethical tensions to be examined without necessitating real-world conflict.
One such thought experiment centers on a museum preparator who is asked to install an exhibition focused on reproductive rights, including abortion. The scenario examines what happens when the employee’s religious convictions influence their participation in the exhibition, leading to a perception of moral complicity in an act they believe to be unethical. Existing museum policies offer no guidance beyond generalized expectations of professionalism and neutrality. The speculative scenario asks: How should responsibility be negotiated? What counts as a reasonable accommodation? Where does inclusivity end and institutional mission begin?
By articulating this scenario as a designed narrative rather than an abstract ethical question, the project makes visible the limitations of current DEIAJ frameworks when applied to religion and spirituality. The thought experiment does not propose a single correct response; instead, it creates a space for institutional reflection, dialogue, and policy imagination.
This collaboration demonstrates how speculative design can support Critical Museum Studies research by extending critique into projection. By combining policy document analysis with designed thought experiments, the project reframes the museum not only as a cultural authority but as a workplace whose internal ethics must align with the values it publicly performs.
