The colonial library and its discontents: Archaeology, museums and education in the Canary Islands

Abstract

This paper examines, focusing on the Indigenous period, how colonial epistemologies have shaped archaeology, museum display, and formal education in the Canary Islands, asking how coordinated legal, institutional, and pedagogical reforms can disrupt this “colonial library.” Drawing on a documentary corpus and a purposive sample of textbooks, the study uses thematic document analysis to identify recurrent narrative frames that marginalize Indigenous perspectives. Framed by decolonial theory and the concept of the colonial library, the paper analyses museological and curricular mechanisms of reification and presents the educational project Memorias Guanches package as a school based intervention for primary and secondary students, and as a practical example of decolonial pedagogy, that aligns classroom activities with heritage governance instruments and museum practices. Findings point to persistent Eurocentric framings, but also to institutional openings (legal reform, exhibition revisions). The article concludes with a discussion of future tasks.