Thinking and working through difference: remaking the ethnographic museum in the global contemporary

Golding, Viv; Modest, Wayne

doi:10.7228/manchester/9781526118196.003.0007

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Reconfiguring meaning using indigenous ontologies and epistemologies meant that spiritual dimensions of drums were catered for just as much as their physical dimensions. In light of this, I agree with Golding and Modest (2019, 94) who argue that co‐curatorship entails “taking an interest not only in objects as things but also in the people, changing practices and belief systems that lend them meaning. The co‐created exhibition at the Mutare Museum now focuses on the traditional aspects of eastern Shona people wherein drums are juxtaposed with videos recordings showing how they are used during ritual performances.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…In this paper, I use Shona as a general umbrella term for all different communities found in Eastern Zimbabwe. Therefore in presenting this collaborative and co‐produced exhibition, I acknowledge the fact that although communities are by nature internally heterogeneous, they are bonded together by of some sense of commonality either in history, culture and experiences (Golding and Modest (2019).…”

Section: Colonial Classifications In the Old Beit Gallerymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Co‐curation and New Museology in Reorganizing the Beit Gallery at the Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe

Chipangura¹

2020

Curator The Museum Journal

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The Mutare Museum in Eastern Zimbabwe reorganized an ethnographic collection in one of its galleries in 2016. This article will look at the processes by which traditional drums as part of this collection were reconfigured and ascribed new meanings derived from their everyday ritual uses amongst the eastern Shona community. As one of the curators involved in the researching that led to the co‐production of the exhibition I will demonstrate how we utilized new museology and co‐curatorship in integrating multiple perspectives from the community on socio‐cultural uses of traditional drums. The paper will also show connections between the community and the drums which were previously viewed as static and mute objects. Collaborating with the community in reorganizing drums in the Beit galley will be presented in the paper as a strategy embraced in decolonizing the museum practice.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Colonial Classifications In the Old Beit Gallerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Co‐curation and New Museology in Reorganizing the Beit Gallery at the Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe

Chipangura¹

2020

Curator The Museum Journal

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“…The methodology suggested to analyze this individual's skull can be used by other institutions facing similar conundrums, serving as an example of ethically informed provenance research. Drawing on the reflections of Black feminist scholar Audre Lorde, Golding and Modest (2018, 90) reflect on how museums might “take our differences and work through them as our strengths.” It is imperative that museums and cultural institutions consider contemporary events and ongoing sociopolitical changes and unrest. Lion Attacking a Dromedary is not historically accurate and serves no educational purpose unless heavily contextualized and used to illustrate racist practices.…”

Section: Conclusion: Moving Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dismantling the diorama: A case study in “unknowable” human remains

Lans

Cuadros

2023

Curator The Museum Journal

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Black Americans have long been disproportionately represented among the victims of state‐sanctioned violence. In response, the Black community has mobilized around movements like Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name. However, the exploitation, objectification, and anonymization of Black bodies persists. In many academic disciplines, Black death and suffering are regularly presented as acceptable research findings. Here, we consider the role objectified Black bodies have played in upholding white supremacy within the context of the museum by piecing together the suspect itinerary of the individual whose skull is contained within Lion Attacking a Dromedary. This diorama, currently housed at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, exemplifies how scientific institutions have perpetuated imperial scientific ideologies in their ongoing exhibitions. By engaging with Black feminism and decolonial frameworks, we present a path forward for such artifacts and consider how museums can truly support the Movement for Black Lives.

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“…With imagination, the objects we care for help to build understanding between cultures and a more sustainable world (Ali, 2023). In relational curatorship, objects are neither treated as frozen nor ordered in a timeless past but are reordered as living beings connected to the present and future in continuous ongoing relationships (Golding & Modest, 2019; Muller & Langhill, 2022). These objects connect people, places, and events.…”

Section: Relational Curatorship and The Disobedient Museummentioning

confidence: 99%

The Benin tusk and Zulu beadwork: Practicing decolonial work at Manchester Museum through shared authority

Chipangura

2023

Museum Anthropology

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The museum world is currently grappling with questions of how to decolonize anthropological collections and many of these debates are epistemologically oriented. In pursuit of colonial ordering, material culture was extracted from colonized societies, deprived of its contextual meaning, and scrutinized through the lens of colonial knowledge. This article considers how an empirical decolonial practice can be applied drawing on from the current work at the Manchester Museum (MM). Dialogue, open engagements, multivocal conversations, collaborations, and shared authority in knowledge production are some of the decolonial strategies that I share. To illustrate this praxis turn in museum decolonial work, I first look at how we have addressed cultural objects looted from Benin in 1897 that we hold and “contain” at MM in our living cultures collection, underscoring a commitment by MM to transparency and a provision of access to the living collection by different groups of people. The second example is drawn from a collaborative provenance research that I undertook with Nongoma community members in South Africa in rewriting biographies of Zulu beadwork that we house at MM. Overall, I argue that decolonization should embrace a relational practice of caring for objects through active relations of reciprocity and dialogue with communities. The downside of decolonial practices and how are they are inherently shaped by power imbalances and tensions between curators and communities is also critically discussed.

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Thinking and working through difference: remaking the ethnographic museum in the global contemporary

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Co‐curation and New Museology in Reorganizing the Beit Gallery at the Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe

Co‐curation and New Museology in Reorganizing the Beit Gallery at the Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe

Dismantling the diorama: A case study in “unknowable” human remains

The Benin tusk and Zulu beadwork: Practicing decolonial work at Manchester Museum through shared authority

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