CAG on museums: Kinloch Anderson and the Scottish Kilt

20th century book of all the clan tartans, incomplete

There’s nothing I like more than a little fashion and cultural history mixed together, and a wee stop to Kinloch Anderson in Leith really taught me a few things about the iconic Scottish kilt. The museum is located in the store and is very small, but encompasses some interesting tidbits of history and has a viewing window so that you can actually watch the kilt-makers create their handmade kilts.

View inside of the workshop

I found out that kilts actually did not come into popularity until around the 16^th century. For a brief period of time the checked tartans were outlawed between 1745 and 1782 in an attempt to break up the Highland Clan system, but when George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822 the pageantry of chiefs wearing their tartans for the King reignited their popularity and iconic cultural connections. This prompted families who did not have a clan tartan to want one of their own,  and the tartan become a symbol of kinship and belonging for Scots.

Sporrans, or the murse (male purse)

Typically there was a royal and a hunting tartan, which a tailor in the shop explained was really just to get a bit more variety in dress. Members of the Royal Family wear different varieties of the Scottish tartan as well. For the Royal Family many different tartans have been designed for them by Kinloch Anderson over the years. Because of their early connections to the Royal Stuarts (Stewarts) and Mary Queen of Scots, the Royals wear a variety of Stewart and Balmoral tartans.

From a contemporary fashion perspective, Kinloch Anderson has designed tartan patterns for some major brands which have become very iconic- Glenlivet scotch and especially Barbour.

CAG on museums: The Future of Ethnographic Museums in Oxford reflections

View of Radcliffe Camera from inside of the Bodleian

One of the key questions of the Future of Ethnographic Museums Conference circulated around how museums created at the height of the ‘museum age’ could be reconfigured to engage with new audiences and respond to changes in a globalized twenty-first century world. The conference was very academic and included curators, researchers, and museum professionals and therefore the discussions were driven by individuals with definite gravitas and influence in the museum world. There were many interesting points brought up in a rather philosophical reflection on the ‘future’ of ethnographic museums, spoken about particularly in terms of what is presently going on at museums around the world.

Garden view outside Lady Margaret Hall/Lady Marmalade Hall

The conference started off with the anthropology star James Clifford (!), who began proceedings with the keynote lecture. Clifford’s talk generally spoke about ethnographic museums in a fraught relationship with cultural communities in the era of globalization, using the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC Vancouver as an example. MOA has come under fire by many cultures of the area who have taken up arguments over not wanting to be associated with museum because of the word anthropology. The word itself has been too connected to colonialist intentions and an antiquated view of cultures. Clifford also mentioned how the word ethnology, which was used to characterize collecting and the comparison of cultures has become completely defunct.

James Clifford!

There were other very interesting points made in the conference and very thought provoking talks, but I will summarize just a few of the things that have really stuck with me.

Sharon Macdonald spoke about the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and the intention to move the ethnographic collections to Museum Island, which Clifford also used as a point of comparison the previous night. Macdonald’s paper compared different approaches to citizenship, nationality, and issues of multiculturalism that have threatened museums through various political agendas. Both she and later Wayne Modest talked about museums shying away from difficult histories and some countries wanting to steer away from telling colonial histories at all, which prompted the attempt to close down the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. These trends outline a difficult phase for memory connected to ethnographic collections, or as Modest suggested, an active ignorance- referring to Ann Stoler’s concept of cultural aphasia as “the ‘inability to recognize things in the world and assign proper names to them’, especially in matters relating to the colonial past in Western societies”. Also very interesting in the discussion of these presentations, was the point that it is often difficult even for museum professionals to articulate to politicians and those adverse to ethnographic collections, what exactly the importance of collections are and why you can’t disregard even their more difficult national stories.

Hay in the Wolfson Nature Reserve

Another really interesting point was brought about by Clare Harris’s talk on the digitally distributed museum and issues of using The Tibet Album, and community reactions to the release of photographs onto the internet. The project has created a digital archive of British photography in Tibet from 1920-1950. The question of who uses these images and issues of freely circulated information on the internet is an interesting point. I’ve long wondered myself if historic photographs, or significant cultural objects are appropriate for release onto the internet. I think in terms of ethnographic material there will always be specific communities within a group or perhaps even individuals who do not want images of their ancestors or ancestral objects visible for the world to see on the internet. What kind of digital forums could encompass the concept of digital repatriation (although a difficult concept in my opinion), but maintain the knowledge that communities might want to keep restricted to themselves and made available only to them? If using the internet for digital exhibitions, social media to spread information, and online databases as the repository of museum metadata has been a major part of twentieth century museum practice, is there a step beyond for how museums can communicate to particular communities digitally in the twenty-first century?

I also took some time to reminisce about my university days and get around Oxford, so the photos are from some of those moments.

CAG on museums: The future of ethnographic museums

Wooden feeding funnel, or korere, elaborately carved with figures in relief on each side and at rear. The carvings are almost in the style of a Taranaki figure. Previously part of the Allan Museum collection. 18th century, and possibly one of the earliest korere in a European museum collection

Being excited for a conference is not my normal state of mind about extra-curricular academic work/networking, but when a conference is specifically about ethnography museums and their future I am heavily invested and deeply interested in all of the discussions and debates that might come up. I have very recently been told that ‘ethnographers are a dying breed’ and sometimes it does seem like this is true. On the other hand, with an increasing amount of students taking part in postgraduate courses in the UK related to Museum Studies, Museum Anthropology and Visual Culture Studies, there is certainly not a dying interest in ethnography and studying cultural anthropology in the museum in any way, but with government cuts to arts funding, there are certainly many fewer positions available in museums.

A fine and rare Cree moose-hide coat, the back with painted rectangular panel of dotted winged motifs in red and black. Originally part of the Darlington Museum collection. Hudson Bay, York Factory.  Maker- Sehwahtahow 1786

The upcoming conference on 'The Future of Ethnographic Museums' taking place 19-21 July 2013 at the Oxford University Pitt Rivers Museum intends to cover questions that have been raised about the modernity of ethnographic museums and whether new audiences can be attracted or not. Alongside the seeming decline in the promotion of ethnographic collections and their specialists, there is also the age old criticism of ethnography museums perpetuating a distinction between “us” and “them”, a fraught history of collecting, and the lack of 21^st century interpretation of cultural material.

The five year project being run by the Ethnography Museums and World Cultures (EMWC): A European Project is funded by the European Commission and has sought to answer questions that have been put to major ethnographic museums about their global role in contemporary society. Many museums have reacted to criticisms and have been self-reflective about their practice for many years. Museums in Australia have endeavoured to include Indigenous Australian interests in collections interpretation and displays. Many museums such as Manchester Museum have employed repatriation policies that enable indigenous groups to petition for the return of valuable ancestral objects.

A Hawaiian feather cape, or 'aha'ula, with winged motif. Triangles and border of yellow feathers on a scarlet ground of feathers, all on a vegetable fibre base. 1834

The Pitt Rivers 'Future of Ethnographic Museums' conference is the last in the series of EMWC workshops, conferences, and conversations that aim to “to stimulate debate about ethnographic museums in the post-colonial period and to envision new ways of thinking and working in those museums in the future.” I’m very interested to see the kinds of debates and discussions that are sparked by this conference, and hope that there will be a lot of examples of how these museum professionals are adapting their practice with ethnographic collections today.

CAG on museums: Documenting ethnographic collections

While making the new records for a recent acquisition of 14 objects collected from various regions of Papua New Guinea objects in the 1960s, some of the finer issues of metadata collection have been brought to my attention. By metadata, I mean the ‘structured data about data’ that is compiled in a computer and paper database about the objects that a museum holds. Some of the recent acquisition objects have been used for hunting or other purposes, and some are tourist arts. Museums document collections to help with research, curate exhibitions, develop education programs, and generally to share information about collections. Documentation work is what a few of my colleagues refer to as ‘the boring part of museum work.’

Axe, possibly tourist object 1960s, Mount Hagen Western Highlands

It’s not really boring, but it is the less glamorous part of the whole museum gig. Acquiring objects in my opinion is a really important part of the life of the museum collection. Collections aren’t meant to be stagnant in time and representative of an idea of the past. Especially for ethnographic collections, representing cultures not normally represented in the ethnographic present means continuing to build collections from the recent past and present is very important to the future.

Boar's tusk with cord attached, Siku clan, Central/Western Highlands

The partial benefit of acquiring new objects now is that most museums have very high standards of information acquisition alongside these objects or art pieces. That means that in the future there will hopefully be a lot more metadata connected to the databases in which we document collections, but it also means there are so many more issues of documenting collections.

Carved statue, Central Highlands

*Just some thoughts I’ve had while documenting (ethnographic) collections:

-The need for a consistency of terminology structure so that in the present and future users of the database may find the data they are looking for

-Will the information on the database be linked to the web for public searches and what does that mean

-Collection management works best when issues of access, use, and the rights to objects are put on a database directly at acquisition because chasing copyright permissions and doing paperwork IS actually boring

-And very importantly for ethnographic objects, the cultural groupings, language groups, and boundaries that we categorize information into for cultural objects might not always be so easy to restrict within specific terminology for the database- how do you create levels of metadata that might be useful for descendants, researchers, museum colleagues, and general audiences

Native American cultural history and the new curriculum for the United Kingdom

Returning the Gaze. Assiniboine dancer Kevin Haywahe
with face paint. © Jeff Thomas

In the wake of the announcement that the curriculum in the United Kingdom has been reworked to be tougher to compete with international school standards, it strikes me as interesting that qualitatively not enough has changed at all in terms of the subject history. The new curriculum will focus on essay writing skills, mathematical modelling, problem solving and computer programming. Of major interest to me are the proposed changes to the history curriculum, which will focus a stronger emphasis on British leaders and present a chronology of British history from the Stone Age to 1066 to primary school students (with further British history supplemented in secondary education).

These changes have proved controversial amongst UK teachers and the public alike who criticize the Education Secretary Michael Gove for dumbing down history, boring pupils with the proposed chronological presentation of history, and presenting a compressed timeline within which to implement these changes by September 2014. I find it more strange that there hasn't been more clamour about the lack of world history, which was originally promised by Gove, so that UK schools could truly incorporate international learning.

As a product of primary and secondary education in the US, I grew up with a lack of world history exposure and was largely taught national history in terms of a chronological stream of events devoid from their deeper political contexts with the wider world. It wasn't until I attended university that I learned about cross cultural histories and the deeper involvement of America as a product of a much more complicated history, where divisions of power largely silenced Native American and other indigenous group histories. The example of Native American history is only one aspect of how other cultural histories can be overlooked in the national curriculum, and it is important that these stories are valued and presented.

In the travelling UK exhibition ‘Warriors of the Plain: 200 years of Native North American ritual and honour’, exhibition themes focus on Plains Indians and their living culture that is supported by a continued history of warrior traditions. Despite some very well presented, beautiful and interesting objects of warrior cultural ceremony displayed in this British Museum travelling exhibition, I think that one of the main reasons this exhibition has been successful on its national tour has been the lack of familiarity that audiences have with Native American history generally and their appreciation for learning these stories.

Fancy Dance pow-wow regalia made by Denis Zotigh, Kiowa 

Back of pow-wow regalia above

The objects seen from the 1800s would be highly unfamiliar to the average secondary school student in the UK and adults who did not focus on subjects in anthropology in university. I don’t think the change to the curriculum in the UK needs to focus on the actual way history is taught, as much as it would be much more useful and progressive to incorporate diverse world perspectives into history education. I feel that the Warriors exhibition highlights the need for a wider geographic and historic breadth that students should become familiar with from an earlier age. In such a globally connected world, it’s very sad that knowledge of different places and cultures in history are still not being emphasized as important in equal standing with national history.

'Warriors of the Plains' is currently at the Manchester Museum, and is open until 3 November 2013.  Introduction video to the Warriors of the Plains exhibition

A big Greek wedding... and some recharging

Long time no write, but I've had a really amazing week of relaxing at home in Greece and being in Athens for one of my oldest friend's wedding. Because I don't live in Greece and the weddings of family and friends seem to be announced within my circle at relatively short notice, I haven't actually been to a Greek wedding before. I was attending at the end of a week filled with beaches, sun, eating way too much Greek cheese, and relaxation. Despite having a week leading up to the wedding, there was certainly a lot more anticipation and events schedule than I am used to. This really heightened my own curiosity about what all the ritual and ceremony of a Greek wedding would really entail.

A view of the beach on Halkida, island connected to Athens by bridge

In the days before the wedding there were bachelorette parties, which I was told are not traditional in Greece and explaining them was actually a bit embarrassing- feather boas, veils, matching outfits, slightly more than social drinking - it really underlined the cultural difference for me. There was a party to celebrate the groom's birthday, and the night before the wedding there was a party at the bride's house for her friends and family. I'm not so sure about the traditional element of these parties, but they did keep some traditional Greek 5am end times, so all that rest and relaxation might have come undone a little on my part.

Dressing the bride

On the wedding day itself, that's when things really became interesting. The girls were asked to come to the bride's house in order to dress the bride. Little did I know that actually physically meant dressing a bride. Imagine 20 girls in a room clamoring to dress one tiny bride and pulling her in all directions all the while singing, clapping, and partaking in some rather loud Greek shouting (which is just normal conversation but comes out louder than English seems to). Amazingly what was really disorienting for me is I believe my friend truly enjoyed all of it and seemed happier than ever. Clichés apparently exist for a reason, and the 'dressing of the bride' felt a little like the corresponding scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding -except she obviously looked way better!     

Attention to the 'something blue'

After the bride was dressed probably about half of all her family and friends were waiting for her to come out and visit with everyone. Then the bride wrote the names of the single girls in attendance on the bottom of her shoe. I think that whichever name is the boldest by the end of the night is supposed to be the girl who gets married next, but I didn't look.

Then apparently the brother of the groom was supposed to come to put the shoes onto the bride, but he was late. So first there was some traditional hora circle dancing that occurred with the bride in flip flops while waiting for the brother to arrive. At 7pm as we were meant to be in church, it became apparent there had been a mixup, so the bride had to be shoed by another male family member, and we headed off to walk to the church...in the middle of an Athens road...with a huge party of 50 people. Definitely something to be seen.

Arrival at church to a pre-marriage kiss!! cheeky

Inside the little church in Psyhiko, it was hot. Beautiful, moving, and HOT. The people who stood next to the bride and groom where there for support, AND to fan the bride and groom and mop up sweat. For real.

There is a lot of ritual in a Greek Orthodox wedding, and overall the lighting of candles, crowning, drinking from the same cup, taking the first steps as husband and wife, and the final words to the couple take around 40 minutes, but in the summer heat it can be hard to bare.

The crowning

Possibly the most surprising part for those who haven't been to a Greek wedding would be the rice throwing. The whole time the priest was reading from his bible I kept thinking that is one massive, silver inlaid, 'this means business' bible. When the rice throwing began as the couple took their first steps as a married couple, the sweet and demure toss I'm used to in American weddings somehow was turned into what seemed like a public stoning, but with rice replacing the stones. That priest's bible made of steel really came in handy as he used it as a shield himself and the couple from the rice warfare.

The rice- Photo copyright Dot Studio, 2013

Arriving at the reception

The rest of the wedding was largely like a lot of international weddings with the cutting of the cake, father-daughter dance, dinner and wine, but with the Greek additions of hora style traditional dancing, smoking being allowed at the tables (still hard for me to get used to), and a normal party end time of about 6am.

Those green leafy veges are just for show, 98% meat plate

The traditional father of the groom dance 

What economic crisis! (Just kidding, they are the best napkins)

I'm so happy I could be there and witness my friend getting married, and she's taught me a lot over the last week. Mainly that we should all be so lucky to be as happy as her.