Adaptation of Englands Museums to Multiculturalism - Essay Example

Adaptation of England’s Museums to Multiculturalism Introduction This paper will examine whether England’s museums have adapted to multiculturalism while assessing the extent to which the present museum policy and practice as reflected in the activities and operation of England’s museums have been successful in addressing multiculturalism in the English society. Multiculturalism concept Multiculturalism is both a descriptive and a prescriptive term, which refers to the diversity of cultures in communities and the collective policies that seek to encourage the said diversity respectively; multiculturalism emerged as a reaction to the assimilation narratives that sought to assimilate immigrant groups despite their unwillingness1. There is a great variation in multicultural ideologies and policies, which range from advocacy for equality of cultures to policies that encourage cultural diversity2. multiculturalism has often sneaked into numerous western political discourses and even academic debates. Different government policies and strategies with regards to multiculturalism have led to the emergence of two main varied and inconsistent approaches namely interculturalism, which entails interaction and communication between cultures to promote multiculturalism, and cultural isolation, which seeks to preserve diversity and cultural uniqueness3. Multiculturalism has traditionally been conceptualized as a normative framework that guides state policies’ promotion of tolerance and recognition of cultural diversity without any preferential treatment of any specific ethnic group4. For instance, the UK has conventionally adopted a race relations approach to equality with multiculturalism taking centre stage in British political discourses. Over the years, the idea of plurality in the identity of ‘Britishness’, as a sort of ‘community of communities,’ has dominated the New Labour’s government discourses. Museums and multiculturalism With the growing multiculturalism of global societies witnessed in the modern era of globalization, which has resulted to widespread cultural interactions and exchanges and the emergence of the global citizens phenomenon5, the multicultural reality and education is an inevitable reality of museums6. Given that museums are understood as centres that promote learning and civic engagement apart from being custodians of the artistic, historic, scientific as well as cultural heritages of communities around the world, they must constantly engage with the diverse cultures of different communities to remain relevant in the present day and age. To remain significant to the culturally diverse England populations, England’s museums must respond to the emerging demand for multicultural education and information by adopting multicultural dimensions through the dissemination and discussion of the diverse range of England’s cultures as well as its unique people. England museums have a crucial role to play in the provision of educational experiences that cover a broad scope through the establishment of integrated pluralistic societies that collectively resolve the immense challenges facing global citizens. Evidently, there is evidence of a significant paradigm shift in the museum policy and practice, particularly in the western societies, with museums generally seeking to address both the needs of their audiences as well as the needs of their collections. Museums are increasingly reconsidering their conceptualization of the museum-audience relationship since the increasing pressure for museums to offer socially inclusive environments that can sustain longer term instruction inevitably requires a close connection with audiences. There is a great need for museums to address the cultural diversity to help tackle salient issues such as the pervasive inequality and discrimination of races that have bedevilled even the often perceived superior global societies since time immemorial. Precisely, the emergence of a broad social history all over the years has prompted the need for educational institutions to represent and showcase the broad global cultural diversity on their walls; museums too, have been forced to create more inclusive and culturally diverse interpretations of social history. The conventional role and basic museum practices have increasingly been challenged with the calls for museums to create original and impartial portrayals of the different world cultures. Traditionally, the pre-nineteenth century attitudes concerning culture and race have often influenced museum collections and displays, which have widely been interpreted in ways that romanticize western cultures while attempting to prove the inferiority of the supposedly minority source cultures. In that respect, museums have generally served both as depositories of elite culture and national heritage as well as platforms for categorizing cultural differences in hierarchies of race and class. In some instances, museums have often refused to display ethnic or tribal objects on their walls due to their perceived inferiority to the native collections; the 19th century stands out as an era when many institutions sought to assert their superiority and that of the dominant white cultures by excluding different people’s ‘otherness’ from museum exhibit walls. During the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, such minority representations of cultures in museums was heavily questioned and challenged by the egalitarian ideal that championed for integration of museum exhibits. Integration of museum exhibits entails displaying the different races, cultures, and ethnicities not as separate entities but as equal members in the museum history rather than the widespread inequality and racist portrayals often depicted in museum exhibitions7. Multiculturalism in England museums From the 1970s, museums across Europe have pursued various ways of complying with the numerous social cultural policies under the banner of multiculturalism, which seek to promote greater inclusivity as well as a broader representation of cultural diversity. However, a vast majority of European nations have encountered major challenges in the management of multiculturalism, which prompted the sudden demise of state-sponsored multiculturalism across the entire European continent8. The British Prime Minister David Cameron stated in 2011 that state multiculturalism in Britain has encouraged different cultures to live separately while accommodating the uniqueness of segregated communities whose cultures appear contrary to their values. Despite the failed state-sponsored multiculturalism, museums have been the boiling pot of cultures since the 1970s; multiculturalism has been a dominant aspect of the British museum culture over the years. The 2000 Runnymede Trust report titled The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain commonly referred to as the Parekh Report notes that the cultural aspects of ordinary people have begun to occupy their rightful place in the British national heritage. Nonetheless, the Parekh Report expresses a concern that the progressive integration of ancient histories into the national heritage should also encompass Britain’s broad cultural diversity; that is, Britain’s diverse societies and lifestyles, identities, experiences as well as the creative work of its newest citizens must also be embraced in the national heritage. The Parekh Report underscores the need for Britain to account for its present multicultural state in its national heritage while addressing the question of racism and confronting the nation’s conventional selective obliviousness of the previous British Empire. Museum exhibitions throughout the UK, the Netherlands and Norway have often addressed multicultural audiences since late 1970s by showcasing cultural diversities on their gallery walls while broadening the scope of national belonging. In as much as the various multicultural initiatives pursued by museums over the years have largely espoused the integration and assimilation of immigrant communities or migrant workers in the post-colonial era, they remain largely ignorant of the colonial past9. British multiculturalism can be traced back to the 20th century’s massive influx of a vast majority of West Indians as well as Asians in the 1950s, a phenomenon that greatly altered the British society for good, by introducing new diverse cultures in England10. Besides that, the multiculturalism in England can also be attributable to the invasions of the Saxons, Romans, Vikings, as well as Normans prior to the 18th century, as well as the 1100s entry of immigrants from Netherlands into Britain; with nearly 8% of Britain’s population being people from diverse cultures and ethnicities, Britain has pursued multicultural policies from the 1970s through to the 1980s. Leading museums in the UK have addressed multiculturalism partly through exhibitions that target specific cultural groups in addition to broad exhibitions that promote the general celebrations of cultural diversities. The Birmingham Museum Gallery 33, which opened in 1993, has often been hailed as a significant example of the archetypical British socially-engaged museum practice; in pursuit of the consensual multiculturalism vision, the exhibition has a historic collection that integrates modern artefacts both from Birmingham’s minority and majority cultures. For instance, the museum has previously explored the prominent cultural and political subject of black hairstyles through an exhibition that showcased hairstyles of the African diaspora in photographs taken in Britain, North America and Africa between 1890s and late 1990s. A follow up of this exhibition further explored the cultural identities of black Britons by telling the stories behind hairdressing tools, to confront the prevalent negative stereotypes as well as the widespread perception of black Britons as heritage-less people. The Imperial War museum also conducted an exhibition titled From War to Windrush in 2008 where it showcased a collection of photographs of black servicemen and women, mostly from the Caribbean and Britain, to celebrate their contribution in the two World Wars while broadening the national scope of a black British identity. However, despite the demonstrated initiatives towards multiculturalism in England museums, a prevalent feature of the multicultural exhibitions is their temporary nature; increasingly, the rule of the thumb for exhibitions with a multicultural agenda is that they generally tend to be temporal. Besides that, multicultural exhibitions in England museums often spatially marginalized within institutions and their tone remains conservatively celebratory since they neither function to prompt any fundamental shifts in the exclusionary stories deeply embedded in major institutions’ permanent galleries nor attempt to challenge institutions that produce them. Most multicultural exhibitions in England museums tend be mere extensions of what has come to be termed as ‘ludic multiculturalism’ since they only focus on a celebration of cultures, showcasing people adorned in different ethnic garbs and others serving ethnic foods in rhythm to ethnic or world music with traditional dancers in the background. In as much as museums all over England might be effectively responding to the need to create newer narratives of identities and belongingness through their celebratory exhibitions that foster greater inclusivity, they have not been able to address the colonial past that presages multicultural societies. In this way, museums tend to promote the view of multiculturalism as somewhat a socio-political coping strategy, a strategy aimed at serving present interests at the expense of historical awareness by encouraging diversion from the colonial past, the unmentionable elephant in the room11. Ultimately, the mounting pressure for museums to reflect the broad cultural diversity of communities while addressing the issue of multiculturalism to remain relevant in the present times has prompted a significant paradigm shift in the museum policy and practice across England. Major museums in the UK such as The Birmingham Museum Gallery 33 and The Imperial War museum have adapted to multiculturalism partly through their elaborate, somewhat “lucid exhibitions’ that focus on particular cultural groups as well as the overall exhibitions that promote the general celebrations of diversities inherent in England’s cultures. However, exhibitions that are passed off as having a multicultural agenda are most likely to be temporal besides being spatially marginalized within institutions and with conservatively celebratory tone. Exclusionary narratives are deeply embedded in the permanent galleries of England’s major institutions and the particular institutions producing and enforcing such exclusionary narratives remain unchallenged due to their occasional lip-service to multiculturalism through lucid exhibitions with multicultural agendas. In that respect, despite the evident efforts by museums across England to address the issue of multiculturalism in their exhibitions, there is yet a lot that these museums can do to accurately reflect a true depiction of the cultural diversity of England. The various initiatives taken by England museums in offering services that are appropriate to the different cultural groups while remaining relevant to the contemporary society are indeed laudable, though the success of multicultural practices in these museums vary greatly. Bibliography Cantle, T. “Inteculturalism: The new era of cohesion and diversity.” Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. Collier, P. 2013. “Exodus: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century.” London: Penguin Group. Cotter Anne-Marie Mooney. 2011. “Culture clash: an international legal perspective on ethnic discrimination.” Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Harper, T. et al. 2010. “Dialogues in urban and regional planning.” Abingdon: Taylor & Francis. Lentin, A. & Titley, G. 2011. “The Crises of Multiculturalism: Racism in a Neoliberal Age.” London: Zed Books Ltd. Modood, T. 2007. “Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea.” Cambridge: Polity Press. New, M. 2011. “Rethinking Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education.” London: Routledge. Rattansi, A. 2011. “Multiculturalism: A very Short Introduction.” Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More