|
“Is the past too hard a task.... I ask
And I wait as I do... as I have... as I will”
extract from poem 'So Who Invited Tu?' by Rosanna Raymond, pp.174
Who owns the past? Who owns the future? How do we come to terms with our pasts and move forwards into the future? And what role is there for heritage today? Through reading this book I explored these questions that, I feel, are at the heart of the future of conservation in the so-called 'post-colonial' and 'post-modern' world.
Colonialism is the expansion of nationality, or territorial enlargement. "The underlying order of colonialism is reflected in control over the nature of social relationships, trade, sovereignty, law, and the activities of Western science" (Sully pp.29). Analysis of colonialism by Gosden and Knowles (2001 pp.5) set out three colonial models: "acculturation", "maintenance", and "hybridity". Understanding the basis, and form, of colonialism is important to conservation, because "colonial relations always involved material culture" (ibid pp.6) and as Sully (pp.30) points out: "Control passed from the colonised to their colonisers over culture itself" it is this that both influences and contextualises the objects we study, and their 'acquisition'. In the 'west' de/anti-colonialism is a radical idea (by which I mean it is anti-status-quo), since the 1960's radical ideas in academia have been tied to post/neo-marxism and the writings of "National Liberation" champions (c.f. Fanon 1967). Today however a different movement has (re)arisen on the streets, its theoretical discourses have been mirrored in the museum world, if not yet widely within the academy. This movement against authoritarian and hierarchical social structures posits as its ideology simply: "process" (c.f. Graeber 2007). It is noticeable linguistically, that both this 'new movement' and contemporary decolonial practice in the 'museum world' choose words such as "dialogue", "discourse", "collaboration", "consultation" and "consensus" as their buzz words. These words indicate process rather than completion, they signify the importance of 'the journey' over presuming to know the 'end point'. This book then fits, perhaps subconsciously, within this new outlook, as can be seen from the choice of words used in the title ('decolonizing' rather than 'post-colonial') reflecting this 'process' vs. 'final agenda' thinking that is at the heart of the ideology of these, non-connected, but concurrent, projects. The book has three areas of concern; the colonial relationship, meeting houses outsides Aotearoa (New Zealand), and specifically Hinemihi o te Ao Tawhito at Clandon Park, in the English county of Surrey. The book not only investigates the journeys that have taken the four Maori meeting houses now outside Aotearoa from their homelands, and seen them end up in Museums in Germany, the United States of America, and in the grounds of a country manor house in the United Kingdom. The book also follows the journey of western museum professionals and Maori communities as they have come together to form collaborative projects to care for these meeting houses. This concept of "journey" seems to me to have coloured the book as a whole, and like all long arduous journeys the emotional turmoil undergone practically seeps from the pages. The concept of journey appears in various guises within the book, at its most literal it is used to refer to physical movement: "like her people six years earlier, Hinemihi (I) was on the move". (Schuster pp.181) however elsewhere journey is summoned as a metaphor to explain process. Delong and Lithgow (pp.152) discussing the National Trust’s mission of public engagement state that: "Journeys such as those made by the staff and Maori community on what is to be done with Hinemihi have the potential to demonstrate this principle of engagement". Of course the most obvious next step of the journey may be a return home (repatriation in the parlance of museology), and this is discussed within the book. There is however some disagreement as to whether this should happen, Schuster talks of younger members of Ngäti Hinemihi talking of fighting for her return, whilst in another article, Burrows (pp.172) says "I feel sad when I hear of people talking about Hinemihi returning" as he reviews the important role she has played for Maori living in the UK he concludes "I would like her to stay". Whilst it is clear that today she remains through the continuation of a colonial relationship, in the form of cultural hybridity, her presence could in fact be seen as having a positive potential for sharing Maori knowledge with the world, and I too would be sad to see her leave, for she is a powerful teacher. Perhaps then the words of James Schuster (pp.189) are most appropriate: "When she is ready to return, she will". This is an important book, not because it argues for anything that is particularly new to the conservation profession, but rather because it once again, and very ably, demonstrates that it is possible, desirable, and effective to develop 'community conservation' with communities in distant lands, to break down the barriers of former colonial social relationships, and to build new 'participatory' social relationships in their stead. As a record of the life and conservation of Hinemihi, in many respects, this book is like a page torn from a diary, we (the reader) are getting but one short snapshot of Hinemihi’s wondrous life; from surviving a Volcanic eruption and providing care and shelter to her people, to providing care and comfort to wounded Maori soldiers in World War I, through to providing comfort and a piece of home to Ngäti Ranana (London Maori club) and other associated groups, to meeting conservation professionals who are assisting in her survival, and acting as a representative and diplomat of Maoridom in the United Kingdom. These stories represent neither the full nor final story, which is just as it should be. How her journey continues and where it takes her none of us can know, but it is an honour to have shared in it.
Bibliography
(of additional citations) 1. F. Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Penguin Books, London, 1967 2. C. Gosden and C. Knowles, Collecting Colonialism: Material Culture and Colonial Change, Berg Publishers, Oxford, 2001
Review by Daniel Cull
Conservation Consultant/Object Conservator Contact: dan2cull@yahoo.co.uk Web: http://www.dancull.wordpress.com
To save this article please
Download this article
Permanent link to this resource: http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/719 |
||||||
