Bio

Suse Anderson (she/her) joined the faculty of The George Washington University in 2016 and currently serves as program head and graduate advisor in the Museum Studies Program. For much of her career, her research focused on the intersection of museums and technology. More recently, Dr. Anderson has become concerned with investigating contemporary ethical dilemmas confronting the museum field. She is the co-author (with Dr. Keir Winesmith) of The Digital Future of Museums: Conversations and Provocations (Routledge, 2020) and former host and producer of Museopunks––the podcast for the progressive museum. As an instructor, Anderson seeks to practice a pedagogy of care, while also encouraging students to engage in critical consideration of the role of museums in society today and into the future. In 2024, she was awarded the CCAS Award for Excellence in the Mentoring of Master's Students.

Current Research

How does the museum field identify and negotiate critical ethical dilemmas? The Social Practice of Museum Ethics: Acts of Negotiation (under contract with Routledge) will extend and expand upon Janet Marstine’s influential work on the new museum ethics (Marstine 2011) and Paul Dunn’s work on stakeholder theory (Dunn 2010) to examine museum ethics as a social practice. It will consider how the museum field identifies and navigates museum dilemmas in public, through its discourse and other negotiation tactics, including protest, withholding of labor, and other organisational tactics, in response to other institutions (including governments). Using a series of prominent recent case studies that range from ethical conundrums at individual institutions to more expansive examples that map broader changes within the field, along with interviews with expert participants at professional organisations such as the International Council of Museums, the American Alliance of Museums, and the Museums Association UK, it will identify how various stakeholders and participants create coalitions around aligned interests to put pressure on museums and other cultural institutions over time, ultimately changing the way certain ethical issues are defined, understood, and acted upon within the museum field.

Publications

Books

Winesmith, Keir, and Suse Anderson. 2020. The Digital Future of Museums: Conversations and Provocations. First. Abingdon, OX & Burlington, MA.: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Digital-Future-of-Museums-Conversations-and-Provocations/Winesmith-Anderson/p/book/9781138589544

Book Chapters

Anderson, Susan. 2019. “Visitor and Audience Research in Museums.” In The Routledge Handbook of Museums, Media and Communication, edited by Kirsten Drotner, Vince Dziekan, Ross Parry, and Kim Christian Schrøder, 1st ed., 80–95. Abingdon, OX: Routledge.

Peer Review Articles

Anderson, Suse. 2022. “‘We Felt Unsafe.’ Rethinking Risk, Harm, and Safety in Museums.” Museums & Social Issues, June, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/15596893.2022.2074639.
Anderson, Suse. 2022. “On the Importance of Possibility and Hope in Museum Studies.” Viewfinder, no. 15 (April). https://medium.com/@NAEAMuseEd/on-the-importance-of-possibility-and-hope-in-museum-studies-9d430a32f5ea.
Cairns, Susan. 2013. “Mutualizing Museum Knowledge: Folksonomies and the Changing Shape of Expertise.” Curator: The Museum Journal 56 (1): 107–19.

Conference Proceedings

Cairns, Susan, and Danny Birchall. 2013. “Curating the Digital World: Past Preconceptions, Present Problems, Possible Futures.” In Museums and the Web 2013, edited by Nancy Proctor and Rich Cherry. Portland, OR: Museums and the Web.

Edited Publications

Anderson, Suse, Isabella Bruno, Hannah Hethmon, Seema D. Rao, Ed Rodley, and Rachel Ropeik, eds. 2019. Humanizing the Digital : Unproceedings from the MCN 2018 Conference. Ad Hoc Museum Collective. https://amazon.com/Humanizing-Digital-Unproceedings-2018-Conference/dp/1091360332.
Rodley, Ed, Robert J. Stein, and Suse Anderson, eds. 2015. Code|Words : Technology and Theory in the Museum. Edinburgh and Boston: Museum iD. https://museumsetc.com/products/code-words.

Student Publications

Bolesta, Emily, Noah Broude, Emma G. Brown, Meg Capo, Grey Cubbage, Dana Golan Miller, Lindsay Guarnieri, et al. The State of Museum Digital Practice | 2023: A Collection of Graduate Essays. Edited by Suse Anderson. Washington, D.C.: GWU Museum Studies, 2023. https://gwu-museum-studies.github.io/Museum-Digital-Practice-2023/.
Barilotti, Alyssa, Samantha Bateman, Grace Bautista, Andrew Bessler, Kirstin Canner, Jamie Carkenord, Elizabeth Day, et al. The State of Museum Digital Practice | 2022: A Collection of Graduate Essays. Edited by Suse Anderson. Washington, D.C., 2022. https://GWU-Museum-Studies.github.io/Museum-Digital-Practice-2022/.
Anderson, Suse, Ashley Chen, Montana Coward, Erin Dietrick, Maura Dunn, Saskia Giramma, Claire Griffin, et al. 2021. The State of Museum Digital Practice | 2021: A Collection of Graduate Essays and Responses. Edited by Suse Anderson. Washington, D.C.: Ad Hoc Museum Collective.
Anderson, Suse, Corrie Brady, Rebecca Brockette, Laura Dickson, Jonathan Edelman, Melissa Garcia, Cristin Guinan-Wiley, et al. 2019. The State of Museum Digital Practice in 2019. Edited by Suse Anderson. Washington, D.C.: Ad Hoc Museum Collective. https://ad-hoc-museum-collective.github.io/GWU-museum-digital-practice-2019/.

Media Contributions/Interviews

Reyburn, Scott. “Museums Are Cashing In on NFTs.” The New York Times, March 25, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/arts/design/museums-nfts.html.
Ulaby, Neda. “The Louvre Has Digitized 482,000 Works — Wander The Museum Online, For Free.” NPR Morning Edition, March 30, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/30/982258972/not-heading-to-paris-this-summer-the-louvre-has-digitized-482-000-artworks.
Varner, Greg. “Museum World Undergoes Big Changes.” GW Today | The George Washington University, March 23, 2022. https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/museum-world-undergoes-big-changes.

Presented at national and international conferences, including plenary or keynote sessions at:

The UNESCO High Level Forum on Museums
American Alliance of Museums Conference
Museums and the Web
Museums Australia
MCN (Museum Computer Network) conference
Visitor Experience Conference
PA Museums Association
Texas Museums Association

Education

BA (Communication-Journalism), Charles Sturt University, Australia
BFA (Hons) 1st class, Faculty Medal, The University of Newcastle, Australia
PhD (Fine Arts), The University of Newcastle, Australia

Classes Taught

Museum Ethics and Values
Museums and Technology
Critical Visitor Experience
Museum History and Theory
Museums and Social Justice

Professional Organizations

Current:

Member, Australian Museums and Galleries Association Incorporated (AMaGA)
Member, MCN (Museum Computer Network)

2014-2025 Program Committee for the Museum Computer Group (UK)
2023: Member, International Council of Museums’ IC-Ethics Committee
2023: MCN Board Member
2021: Vice-Chair, Congresswoman Eleanor Norton's Congressional Art Competition Committee (member since 2018)
2018-2019: Visiting Technologist at the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage (Philadelphia)
2018: President, MCN (Museum Computer Network), on the MCN Board since 2015
2015 - 2016: Program Co-Chair for the annual MCN conference
2014 - 2015: Jury Chair for the AAM Muse Awards in the categories of Digital Communities (2014), and Podcasts and Audio Tours (2015)
2012 - 2015: Served on the Advisory Board for the NMC Horizon Report–Museum Edition
Served on multiple Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Review Boards
Served on Advisory Board of the Open Knowledge Foundation Network Australia