Museums and communities in Africa: facing the new challenges

Abstract

Established during the colonial era, the majority of museums in Africa were modeled on their European counterparts. The period of Africanization that followed the independence of many African nations witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of Africans receiving higher education and specialized training. Institutions such as museums began to come under the leadership of indigenous Africans but, in most cases, the exhibits and their condition(s) remained the same. Today, African museums face new challenges: how can they become more relevant, both to the local communities they serve and to foreign visitors? How can they attract more visitors, especially from local communities? This article discusses the notion of ‘indigenous’ in an African context. It looks at the development of museums in Africa and their current metamorphosis into dynamic cultural centres that address pertinent social, cultural and even economic issues-in the face of dwindling government funding and increased modernization and globalization. It discusses several museums and how they are meeting these challenges, and how organizations such as AFRICOM (International Council of African Museums) and programmes such as SAMP (African–Swedish Museum Network) are contributing to the positive changes currently taking place.     

Indigenous peoples' rights to their cultural heritage

Abstract

This paper discusses indigenous peoples' rights to their cultural heritage, using the example of rights to indigenous human remains, held by institutions, universities, scientific centres and museums. It addresses international developments in indigenous cultural policy at the United Nations and the European Union, with specific reference to Australia and the United Kingdom. It also outlines issues relating to indigenous peoples' collective rights, free, prior and informed consent, ownership of indigenous human remains and the issue of benefit sharing and sustainable justice. There are now several international declarations, conventions and policies in place to assist indigenous people in gaining some form of control and protection over their heritage, however, these international instruments are often unco-ordinated and lacking in any enforcement mechanisms and they hold little sway with those who retain indigenous human remains against the wishes of descendant communities.     

The Environmental History of Mass Graves

ABSTRACT

The author presents an ecological-necrological perspective on the ontology of the human dead body and remains in the context of Holocaust studies. The article examines the environmental history of mass graves and reflects on the ontological status and condition of human remains. The author proposes an approach that combines humanities and soil sciences while thinking about post-genocidal spaces and sites of mass killings in order to discuss the issue of protecting human remains from politicization and commercialization and to prefigure appropriate long-term approaches to the preservation of sites containing human remains. The article suggests focusing on humus while examining the process of dehumanization through decomposition (organic decay) and unbecoming human by “becoming-soil.” To enrich and problematize the humanities’ conception of humus, the article draws on conceptions of humus proposed by soil scientists. What is argued here is that the ecological perspective becomes a necessary and essential element in managing post-genocidal (and post-Holocaust) sites, particularly when it comes to planning their conservation and preservation.     

Using the Capability Approach to Conceptualise Inequality in Archaeology: the Case of the Late Neolithic Bosnian Site Okolište c. 5200–4600 <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">bce</Emphasis>

The past few decades have witnessed a growing realisation that market-based measures of human well-being—measures that centre on income and consumption distributions—miss some other perhaps even more essential elements of human well-being. This insight has found a prominent expression in the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen’s so-called capability approach. At the same time, the market-based measure of inequality as a function of the distribution of material remains in graves and other locations remain dominant in archaeology. In this paper, we explore the significance of the capability approach, and the associated concept of human well-being based on the idea of capabilities, to the archaeology of social inequality and social malintegration. We discuss these notions using the case study of the Late Neolithic Bosnian tell site Okoli?te and argue that there, in c. 5200–4600 bce, the monopolisation of certain critical goods led to a critical capability inequality, malintegration and to a prolonged period of social unrest and decline.     

Public archaeology and political dynamics in Portugal: A reply to Bednarik

Abstract

This article is concerned with five museums created by indigenous sámi people in northern Fenno- Scandinavia. In comparison to most Western nations' museums, Sámi-created institutions are a relatively recent phenomenon. Against the background of changing ideas about museums in the academic world, this article examines what kind of representation of the Sámi past has been created in their museums and, importantly, the reasons why these representations have been created in the ways that they have. What kind of knowledge does this create? How has the medium been adapted? How do these representations, in turn, change Sámi culture?

It is argued that Sámi museums have been influential in creating a sense of ‘Sámi-ness’ through their particular representations. Certain artefacts are presented as particularly active, and although their actions can cause conflicts, they are now being used to forge a deeper past for the Sámi people.     

Social status in the Merovingian and Viking periods in Norway from archaeological and historical sources

Generally, the social structure (stratification of the society) in the Merovingian and Viking periods in Norway has been studied by historians using mainly historical and linguistic material. However, prehistoric burials are supposed to reflect the social status of the deceased, and in the present study social status in the Merovingian and Viking periods in western, central and eastern Norway has been examined through 4629 grave finds recorded in the museums’ list—3796 were defined as men's grave finds and 833 as women's. On the basis of the composition of the grave material both the men's and women's graves could be divided into three groups: a large lower group with plain grave material, a small upper group with the richest finds, and an intermediate group. This grouping was supported by studies of the professionally excavated graves from 1956–1978 and indicated three distinctive social groups of free men and women. The grouping of the men's graves on the basis of weapon composition showed only a fair association with the weapon requirements and the social status indicated by the provincial laws from the early Middle Ages. However, studies of 177 precisely dated weapon graves demonstrated a closer association between the requirements of the laws and the weapon composition of the 10th century graves than of those from the 8th and 9th centuries. Accordingly, the grave finds from the Merovingian and Viking periods as well as the historical sources from the early Middle Ages reflect a society with marked differences in social status, the grave finds from the 10th century showing the best correspondence to the provincial laws.     

Place,space and odyssey: Exploring the future of early medieval sculpture,Rosemarkie, Inverness-shire

Abstract

The world today is often described as ‘postmodern’ - or, recently, post-postmodern. The question is, can postmodern ideas help to explain the many inconsistencies and logical binds in which museums find themselves entangled at the start of the 21st century? The postmodern is set in contrast with the Modern project, with which museums are closely associated. Superstition and disorder were swept aside, in theory at least, by scientific evidence and orderly arrangement, promoting a stable social hierarchy. In the West, the rational, scientific mindset became the dominant way of explaining the world. Museums are deeply implicated in the Modern, as instruments for cataloguing and characterizing first the natural world and, later, the world of invention, design and technology. Can museums, as ‘modern’ institutions, survive in the postmodern age? The museum's salvation could, it is argued, lie in its collections. Museums could shrug off their insistence on exhibitions as their major function: their ‘modern’ face. Instead they could move towards being providers of a service to open up the collections themselves and the knowledge and information about them, rather than guarding them as a private treasure.     

Benefits of visiting heritage museums: Chinese parents’ perspectives

Abstract

The family, as a leisure unit, is an important museum consumer group. The literature on family leisure in museums concentrates on the cognitive and the learning aspects in science museums and art galleries in western contexts. It provides limited explanation of the leisure outcomes acquired from visiting museums. This work addresses this lacuna by exploring the benefits perceived by Chinese parents who take their children to a cluster of museums along China’s Grand Canal, a world heritage site in Hangzhou. A review of museum and heritage research, combined with 17 on-site, in-depth interviews, generated information on a range of benefits which was used to design a questionnaire that was completed by 450 respondents. Five perceived benefits were identified using factor analysis. In order of significance, they are family bonding, community attachment, cultural awareness, restoration and personal growth. These perceived benefits have implications for museums and other public facilities catering to the family leisure market, as well as for governments, community organisations, the heritage sector and other stakeholders that are charged with managing cultural heritage.     

Editorial

Abstract

In April 1996, a single gunman killed 35 people at Port Arthur, Tasmania. A majority of these murders occurred inside the Broad Arrow Cafe, a structure related to commercial and tourist operations at this historic site. This paper considers the politics of heritage management for a place of recent human tragedy. How do Australians cope with this tragic site as survivors, as witnesses, as heritage managers, as local residents, as sympathetic nationals? Current debates on the future of the Broad Arrow Cafe provide some significant insight into the heritage of mourning: should such buildings be retained as monuments, should they be ceremonially removed to encourage a healing process, or should they be left to decay naturally? Through these debates, questions about the local, national and international nature of cultural heritage management have emerged. Whose interests are served by preserving sites of human suffering? What are the roles of artefacts, architecture and cultural landscapes in the memorialization of tragedy? Finally, there is discussion of some innovative suggestions from local and federal heritage authorities for preserving some physical testimony of the tragedy, while honouring the national and personal mourning process.     

The impossibility of resurrecting the past: Reconstructions on archaeological excavation sites

Abstract

Since the beginnings of archaeological research, scientists have attempted to explain the past to a larger public. In the nineteenth century the quality of reconstruction drawings by architects was high but, after excavations were finished, the sites were left as they were, without conservation, while the movable finds were exhibited in the great museums of the European capitals. Today's mass tourism, however, demands attractions at the original ancient sites. The tourist industry, which brings by far the largest pool of visitors to the sites, sets the standards, but its interests centre on quick and simple ‘consumption’ of impressive ruins. Different methods have been employed in creating tourist attractions – from reconstructing ancient buildings to having museum staff in costume demonstrate elements of daily life in history. But it is the ruins on excavation sites, even in their damaged state, that are the irreplaceable, authentic records of the past. Archaeological preservation, therefore, has to mean uncompromising conservation of the damaged original remains. They should not be sacrificed for the sake of questionable ‘progress’ or popularization.     

ARCHAEOLOGY IN A GEECHEE GRAVEYARD

Abstract

Archaeological investigations were carried out during May 2010 within Behavior Cemetery, a historic African American graveyard used for more than 120 years by the Gullah-Geechee communities of Sapelo Island, Georgia. Designed in close partnership with the local residents, this project sought to address their concerns about disturbance to unmarked graves when new graves were dug. This paper provides a historical overview of the cemetery and then discusses the methods, results, and outcomes of the field research. The success of the Behavior Cemetery Project serves as a positive example of community-oriented archaeology, a mutually beneficial partnership that simultaneously serves public, academic research, and cultural resource management needs.     

中国博物馆大型原创性特展之展览策划——以南京博物院为例专访龚良院长

21世纪以来,中国博物馆的大型原创性特展工作呈现良好的发展态势。南京博物院龚良院长指出,大型原创性特展作为博物馆为公众提供更好的文化服务的文化产品,既能衡量博物馆的发展活力,也有利于博物馆的可持续发展。博物馆应根据自身的定位和特色完善藏品体系,从而确定展览主题,制订展览规划。高校应该围绕研究公众、服务公众调整博物馆学的课程设置。试行中的理事会制度将有助于推动博物馆为公众提供高品质的文化服务、满足公众更高的精神文化需求。南京博物院近年大力推行策展人制度,鼓励策划大型原创性特展,重视并强调展示文物之间的相互关系。2016年度举办的"法老·王"展是一次用低票价、非营利的方法,举办了一个不用财政资金、为公众提供优质服务的高品质展览,并将展览作为文化创意产品的有益尝试,将为中国博物馆界提供一个可复制的成功案例。     

Human flourishing,tourism transformation and COVID-19: a conceptual touchstone

Abstract

As the planet remains in the grips of COVID-19 and amidst enforced lockdowns and restrictions, and possibly the most profound economic downturn since the Great Depression, the resounding enquiry asks—what will the new normal look like? And, in much the same way, tourism aficionados, policy makers and communities are asking a similar question—what will the tourism landscape, and indeed the world, look like after the pandemic? As casualties from the crisis continue to fall by the wayside, the rethinking about what an emergent tourism industry might resemble is on in earnest. Many are hopeful that this wake-up call event is an opportunity to reshape tourism into a model that is more sustainable, inclusive and caring of the many stakeholders that rely on it. And some indicators, though not all, point in that direction. In line with this, the concept of ‘human flourishing’ offers merits as an alternative touchstone for evaluating the impacts of tourism on host communities. Human flourishing has a long genesis and its contemporary manifestation, pushed by COVID-19 and applied to travel and tourism, further expands the bounds of its application. Human flourishing has the potential to offer more nuanced sets of approaches by which the impact of tourism on host communities might be measured. The challenge remaining is how to develop robust indices to calibrate human flourishing policy successes.     

A possible case of ‘poll‐evil’ in an early Scythian horse skull from Arzhan 1, Tuva Republic,Central Asia

Occipital bone lesions on an Iron Age horse cranium from the burial mound of Arzhan 1, Tuva, Central Asia, are described and interpreted. Cavitations around the nuchal ligament attachment site on the skull are interpreted as foci of inflammation and necrosis following local infection. It is suggested that the pathology represents a case of ‘poll‐evil’, most likely due to a bacterial infection. The significance of such an interpretation is discussed, including its implications for disease ecology and the possible infection risks to contiguous animal and human communities of the first millennium BC in Central Asia. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating Community Archaeology in the UK

Abstract

Does community archaeology work? In the UK over the last decade, there has been a boom in projects utilising the popular phrase 'community archaeology'. These projects can take many different forms and have ranged from the public face of research and developer-funded programmes to projects run by museums, archaeological units, universities, and archaeological societies. Community archaeology also encapsulates those projects run by communities themselves or in dialogue between 'professional' and 'amateur' groups and individuals. Many of these projects are driven by a desire for archaeology to meet a range of perceived educational and social values in bringing about knowledge and awareness of the past in the present. These are often claimed as successful outputs of community projects. This paper argues that appropriate criteria and methodologies for evaluating the efficacy of these projects have yet to be designed. What is community archaeology for? Who is it for? And is it effectively meeting its targets? Focusing on the authors' experiences of directing community archaeology projects, together with the ongoing research assessing the efficacy of community archaeology projects in the UK, this paper aims to set out two possible methodologies: one of self-reflexivity, and one of ethnoarchaeological analysis for evaluating what community archaeology actually does for communities themselves.     

Sculptures in captivity and monkeys on megaliths: Observations in zoo archaeology

Abstract

This paper reconsiders some aspects of displays at archaeological open-air museums and heritage sites by looking in some detail at how wild animals are presented in zoological gardens. Topics discussed include the historic and current functions of collecting ancient artefacts, the various appeals of different artefacts and displays, trends in attracting visitors, the significance of systematics and typology, narratives reflected in the overall exhibition design, and the role of displaying artefacts in a specific ‘culral’ context. I argue that we should learn from zoos by placing a stronger emphasis on sensory experiences and visitor satisfaction in order to convey the ‘magic’ of the past.     

Is cultural democracy possible in a museum? Critical reflections on Indigenous engagement in the development of the exhibition Encounters: Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum

Recent museological scholarship emphasises visitor participation and democratic access to cultural heritage as key to securing the ongoing relevance and future sustainability of museums. But do legacies of colonialist collecting practices and hierarchical conventions of representation in museums afford the possibility of genuine cultural democracy? This paper explores this question via detailed analysis of the Encounters exhibition, developed by the National Museum of Australia in partnership with the British Museum and promoted as an unprecedented partnership between the institutions and Indigenous Australian communities. Drawing on an extensive and emerging literature on museums, community engagement, participation and democracy, in tandem with analysis of public critiques and Indigenous responses to the exhibition, the paper suggests that the extent of Indigenous agency within the collaboration fell short of the articulated goals of the project. It concludes that the concept of maximal participation and release of agency to communities of interest may be difficult to achieve within existing museum frameworks.     

How Does Theology Go Public? Rethinking the Debate between David Tracy and George Lindbeck

Abstract

The possibilities for taking theological ethics ‘public’ have taken on added significance amidst debates over the nature of moral norms. If realist theological ethics can find a public voice, it will enhance the prospects for interreligious ethical collaboration and the place of theology in it. A key question remains whether particular contexts of religious symbols render them meaningful only within communities of ‘origin’, or particularity actually enables broadly compelling meaning or a public voice for theology. At issue in the Tracy-Lindbeck debate are their understandings of ‘public’, their responses to philosophical anti-foundationalism, and their theological presuppositions. While postliberal emphases on the distinctiveness of the Christian community and attention to the ecclesial community complement Tracy's emphases on dialogue and coherence, Tracy's recent methods provide more adequate responses to the challenges posed by postmodernism.     

Chubut,Argentina: a contested Welsh ‘first-place’

Abstract

In an attempt to escape British hegemony, the Welsh established a Patagonian colony in 1865, in what is now the Chubut Province of Argentina. The historical struggles the immigrants faced upon settling the land are rooted in the landscape and commemorated in different versions of Patagonian regional history through provincial museum narratives that serve as a method of solidifying Welshness in Chubut. Contemporarily, the local tourism industry constructs the Welsh as the first settlers in the region, while minimally representing predecessor groups like the indigenous communities or Spanish colonials. Curiously, the representation of these other heritage communities throughout heritage displays actually serves to bolster the Welsh ‘first-place’ claims over the region. These tensions are seen throughout community-based museums in the region that assert a locally rooted hybrid identity by acknowledging local historical diversity, while simultaneously recalling and emphasising the [Welsh] homeland heritage. This paper explores how ‘first-places’ can be a source of symbolic conflict, while simultaneously serving as a dynamic, heritage construction mechanism. This research investigates how the Welsh diaspora negotiates its identity through the mobilisation of heritage, to make claims about the Chubut Province as a symbolic Welsh first-place, as well as broader Argentine heritage.     

PAST ‘DISTURBANCES’ OF GRAVES AS A SOURCE: TAPHONOMY AND INTERPRETATION OF REOPENED EARLY MEDIEVAL INHUMATION GRAVES AT BRUNN AM GEBIRGE (AUSTRIA) AND WINNALL II (ENGLAND)

Early medieval graves that were reopened in the past are usually considered ‘disturbed’ and hence an unreliable source for traditional cemetery analysis. This paper aims to highlight how the analysis of these ‘disturbances’ can contribute to our understanding of early medieval mortuary rites and attitudes towards the buried human body. Two case studies of cemeteries with high proportions of reopened graves are presented. Thorough archaeological analysis, with careful consideration of the taphonomy of reopened graves, is the key to an understanding of the reopening practices. At Brunn am Gebirge (Austria) most graves were reopened for ‘grave‐robbery’– to remove grave goods – at a time when the bodies were already fully disarticulated. The graves at Winnall II (England) were reopened very soon after burial to manipulate the still largely intact corpses.