Jess Rezac

I am Curator of the Andrew County Museum in Savannah, Missouri with a master of arts degree in Museum Science from Texas Tech University and a bachelor of arts in History from Washburn University.

My prior research focused on African history, colonialism, and the idea of Africa in the mind of the West. My master's thesis "Postcolonial Museology and Jenne-Jeno Terracottas: A Theory for Broadening Interpretation of African Material Culture in American Museums" explored the ways in which American museums interpret African material culture and proposed a new museology to challenge popular understanding of Africa and engage visitors by offering exhibition narratives that move beyond the past embedded in the ethnographic present. This research built on previous research projects exploring Western film representations of fictional Africa, the documentaries of Africa filmed by Martin and Osa Johnson, and representations of Africa by Africans. I hope to continue these lines of research in the future.

In addition to my training in collection management, preventive conservation, interpretation and museum education, I have over ten years of experience in web design and development with Wordpress and other content management systems.

1. Social Media
2. Collections Management
3. Web Design
4. Museum Education
5. Museums
6. History
7. Writing
8. Research
9. Public Speaking

• Postcolonial Museology and Jenne-Jeno Terracottas: A Theory for Broadening Interpretation of African Material Culture in American Museums

  • Texas Tech University, Masters Thesis
  • August 7, 2010
  Authors: Jess Rezac

  As exploration facilitated encounters between Western and African populations, the work of Western scholars in a variety of academic disciplines—anthropology, science, history, and art history—scrambled to explain the differences between these societies. These scholars attempted to organize the world, distorting the theories of Charles Darwin to describe the evolution of culture along a unilineal timeline from "barbaric" to "civilized." Museums and other cultural institutions reflected these ideas, translating the academic justifications for colonial exploitation into exhibition. When independent African nations replaced colonial administrations, Western exhibition narratives shifted, interpreting African material culture by focusing on aesthetic features and highlighting commonalities between objects, rituals, and peoples. These exhibitions confirm—by failing to challenge—outdated visitor assumptions about Africa. Meanwhile, museums in former colonies participated in the construction of new, postcolonial nationalities. By embracing postcolonialism, Western museums can challenge popular understanding of Africa and engage visitors by offering exhibition narratives that move beyond the past embedded in the "ethnographic present." Additionally, postcolonial museology offers museum visitors the opportunity to recognize the impacts of colonialism on Africa that dramatically interrupted the course of these societies and endure into the present.

• Oiling the Cultural Machine: Anthropology Exhibitions and Native Village Exhibits at Worlds Fairs

  • Paper presented to Pop Culture Association, New Orleans, La.
  • April 2009
  Authors: Jess Rezac

• A Mysterious Collection of Eggs: Collections Management and Environmental Monitoring from a New Professional Perspective

  • Paper presented to Texas Association of Museums, El Paso, Tex.
  • March 2009
  Authors: Jess Rezac

• Saying No to Thunder: The Deterioration of Women’s Status in Igboland

  • Paper presented to Kansas Association of Historians, Independence, Kan.
  • March 2008
  Authors: Jess Rezac

• Painting the Womb: Women as Cave Painters in the South of France

  • Paper presented to Phi Alpha Theta Biennial Convention, Albuquerque, NM
  • January 2008
  Authors: Jess Rezac

• Echoing Complaints: Corporations in The Constant Gardener and Blood Diamond

  • Paper presented to Literature/Film Association, Lawrence, Kan.
  • October 2007
  Authors: Jess Rezac

• The Battle for Tradition: Society of St. Pius X in St. Mary’s, Kansas

  • Paper presented to Western Social Science Association, Calgary, Ontario, Canada
  • April 2007
  Authors: Jess Rezac

• Tending the Roots: Communication Strategies to Build Communities of Women

  • Paper presented to Women as Global Leaders, Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • March 2006
  Authors: Jess Rezac

Websites:

• Portfolio
• Blog

Interests:

Museums, African History, Intersectionality, Women's studies, Queer studies, Material culture, Art history, Feminism, Vegetarianism, Catholicism, Sustainability, History, Pop culture

Groups and Associations:

• 
  American Association for State and Local History
• 
  American Association of Museums
• 
  Collections Preservation and Care
• 
  Emerging Museum Professionals
• 
  Mountain-Plains Museums Association
• 
  Phi Alpha Theta
• 
  Small Museum Professionals
• 
  Texas Tech Group
• 
  Washburn University Alumni