A Programme of Absolute Disorder

'A complete overhaul of the Western museum tradition' - Publishers Weekly In A Programme of Absolute Disorder, Françoise Vergès strips away the veneer of the universal Western museum to reveal its origins as the foundation of liberal ideology. By exploring the history of the Louvre, and following the radical tradition of Frantz Fanon, she argues that the modern institution cannot just be fixed with a more diverse board or by finding new ways to display the art. Instead, she demands a 'post-museum': a space that rejects the financialization of art, acknowledges the bloody history of its collections, and prioritises the labour and dignity of those who clean, guard and inhabit its halls.

Françoise Vergès is a political scientist, activist, historian, film writer, and public educator. She is the author of A Decolonial Feminism, A Feminist History of Violence and A Programme of Absolute Disorder. She is also a senior research fellow at the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation, University College London. She lives in Paris.

Preface
Introduction
1. A Programme of Absolute Disorder
2. The Museum: A Battlefield
3. The Louvre, Napoleon, Capture, the Slave
4. Black is the model, white the frame
5. A Museum without Objects
Epilogue: Decolonial Tactics
Notes