“…Arguably the dominant blockbuster exhibitions perpetuate rather than challenge this tradition. This aestheticisation risks the self-alienation of viewers whose culture is thus spectacularised , the exhibits are meant to be seen 'back here' by 'us' about 'them' 'over there' -yet now 'they' are 'here' (Lionnet, 2004). The perpetuation of these distancing colonial optics, and the failure to open a dialogic space, led to exhibitions such as 'Into the Heart of Africa' in the 15 Royal Ontario Museum, being besieged by angered publics (Schildkrout, 2004) …”
Section: Civilising Affects (Pt 1): Producing Native Others and Knowimentioning
The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. modalities. The paper thus looks at attempts to foster civic inclusion and argues that they need to work through not just civic openness but felt exclusions and fears. The paper takes two canonical heritage sites to exemplify these issues. First, the British Museum was chosen as an urban national institution that is conventionally seen speaking in an unemotive, pedagogical register. The history of the museum as collecting artefacts from around the world and bringing them to London is related to diasporic communities' feelings about the collections focusing on the Oceanic gallery. The second exemplar is the English Lake District, chosen as a rural national park that is seen to mobilise more visceral affective responses, is deeply bound up with national sensibilities but has attracted attention for racial exclusivity.
“…Arguably the dominant blockbuster exhibitions perpetuate rather than challenge this tradition. This aestheticisation risks the self-alienation of viewers whose culture is thus spectacularised , the exhibits are meant to be seen 'back here' by 'us' about 'them' 'over there' -yet now 'they' are 'here' (Lionnet, 2004). The perpetuation of these distancing colonial optics, and the failure to open a dialogic space, led to exhibitions such as 'Into the Heart of Africa' in the 15 Royal Ontario Museum, being besieged by angered publics (Schildkrout, 2004) …”
Section: Civilising Affects (Pt 1): Producing Native Others and Knowimentioning
The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. modalities. The paper thus looks at attempts to foster civic inclusion and argues that they need to work through not just civic openness but felt exclusions and fears. The paper takes two canonical heritage sites to exemplify these issues. First, the British Museum was chosen as an urban national institution that is conventionally seen speaking in an unemotive, pedagogical register. The history of the museum as collecting artefacts from around the world and bringing them to London is related to diasporic communities' feelings about the collections focusing on the Oceanic gallery. The second exemplar is the English Lake District, chosen as a rural national park that is seen to mobilise more visceral affective responses, is deeply bound up with national sensibilities but has attracted attention for racial exclusivity.
“…He himself makes appearances in the films from time to time. This situation differs from the experience of the hero Idris (see Tournier ), analyzed by Françoise Lionnet (:50–52), who becomes dispossessed of his own identity when he sees it being analyzed in a guide book for tourists hungry for exoticism, which they satisfy mainly at the museum by feasting their eyes on the objects of his culture:The display is thus both a mirror and a tomb: Idris's features and culture are no sooner reflected back to him than they are split off from each other. His presence is but an ephemeral, “evanescent,” and transparent human one, superimposed onto an ossified culture, represented under glass by inanimate, soulless objects which have only stereotypical meanings.…”
Section: Benevolent Conspiratorsmentioning
confidence: 76%
“…His presence is but an ephemeral, “evanescent,” and transparent human one, superimposed onto an ossified culture, represented under glass by inanimate, soulless objects which have only stereotypical meanings. [Lionnet :51]…”
Section: Benevolent Conspiratorsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… In this opposition, we find the permanent need to perceive the “Other” as familiar enough to experience a form of empathy, yet fundamentally different enough to preserve our need for exoticism and foreignness (see especially Karp :374–376; Lionnet :52; Napier :139–142). …”
This paper explores some of the methodological and theoretical challenges raised by the presentation of masks from the Guro region of the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in Persona, a 2009 exhibition at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. Along the Ivory Coast, masquerades are popular, but they also take place during important rituals such as campaigns against witchcraft, funeral ceremonies, and propitiatory cult events. Masks are used in dance performances, and these can only be related in a museum context through texts, photographs, music, and videos. Yet in spite of such efforts to communicate the dynamism of living cultures, exhibitions often become a kind of cenotaph, as if these cultures were dead. Museums thus tend to have a “deadening effect” on living cultures, placing them in a timeless and false past. How can we deal with this aspect of the displays, especially when we know that today's masquerades are profoundly influenced by modernity and urban culture?
“…I would even suggest that the academic discourse on museum education by focusing on problematic representations, the lack of content knowledge, and complicated statements during guided tours (cf. Lionnet 2001;Macdonald 2006;Axelsson 2009;Desai 2000) contributes to this critique.…”
The aim of this paper is to investigate museum educators' articulations of their performance during guided tours. The paper investigates preparations for a guided tour, considerations related to doing guided tours and the events after the guided tour. The text focus especially on preparation and the aftermath as this is not normally discussed in research on museum education. The paper is based on participant observation of guided tours, filming of guided tours and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The material is analysed using performance theories and theories on materiality. The paper seeks to unearth knowledge imbued in the museum educators' performance and reveal what can be known from guiding bodies.
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