When Curators Were Kings: Professional Autonomy Before the Corporate Institution
Comment on a youtube interview of Ahmad Paul Keeler, on Al Jazeera English Channel, entitled " How can The Islamic World Challenge Western Narratives about it? Posted Sep 14 2026 When Keeler was asked whether the World of Islam Festival of 1976 could be recreated today, his answer was striking: probably not. The obstacle, he suggested, would not primarily be money, technology or lack of interest. It would be the contemporary corporate culture of institutions. In the 1960s and 1970s, he recalled, professors, museum directors and curators possessed considerable authority (they were kings) within their respective institutions. If they recognised the intellectual or cultural value of a proposal, they could often decide to support it without submitting it to the extensive managerial processes that govern institutions today. Keeler knew this from experience. Conceived at the beginning of the 1970s, the World of Islam Festival eventually brought together museums, universities, scholars,...