What an extraordinary story. I also have no definition for
"storytelling," but have a similar story to tell. A couple of years ago,
I was called from my office to the reception area of the Museum of
Anthropology. A man was complaining, I was told, and the student who
served at reception, felt unable to deal with his complaint. As soon as I
got there, I could understand why she could not. The man's face was
almost purple, his fists were clenched, his body rigid as if fighting for
control.
How dare we, he said to me, present such a one-sided story as we
apparently had in a sourcebook (sourcebooks are ring-bound collections of
text and images, usually produced by anthropology students, on some
specific issue, most often involving First Peoples). This particular one
was a collection of clippings about the crisis at Oka (in which the Quebec
police and the Canadian army faced off against a group of Mohawks).
Students had pulled together all that had been written about the crisis in
the public press and highlighted parts they thought worth noting. They
had included at the beginning who they were and what perspectives they
brought to this look through mainstream public opinion.
How dare we, a museum, he continued, not present a balanced version of
what "actually" happened. Though his anger was unnerving, I plodded on
with my answer: that "balance" was in the eye of the beholder, that for
centuries (and still today) any so-called "balance" has been skewed to a
colonial view of "truth," and that balance should perhaps be measured
between the museum and some outside world, or over time. My explanation
did not reach his ears, though after what seemed like an eternity of
staring one another down, he left, promising to write the director (don't
know if he ever did.)
Evidently, there are those for whom story means "their story," not someone
else's story -- or IF someone else's story, then not without rebuttal.
Museums, to these people, are also places for "true" stories to be told.
Some of this we may have brought on ourselves over years of speaking with
voices of authority promising to our visitors an undeniable, universal
truth -- no need for balance then. If so, might we see this as reaping
what we ourselves have sown?
Time, therefore, to distringuish Truth from My truth, Your truth, Their
truths.
Kersti Krug
Museum of Anthropology
& interdisciplinary doctoral student (from whence cometh the crankiness)
The University of Anthropology
Vancouver, Canada
On Wed, 29 Nov 1995, Redding Museum of Art & History wrote:
> We had an incident last Saturday at our museum. In conjunction with our
> current exhibition "Ancestral Memories: A Tribute to Native Survival", a
> local native American man was scheduled to have a storytelling session in
> the gallery. The fact that this event was scheduled by the museum on the
> Thanksgiving weekend was no accident - it was felt that it would provide
> another local perspective on what we have to give thanks for, not to
> mention an antidote for the stereotyping of local native peoples around
> this time of year. Indeed, the entire exhibition is intended to challenge
> just these stereotypes, and to present native peoples in a contemporary
> light as living, breathing and fully functioning members of our society.
> Too many of our school tours brought embarrassing facts about these
> stereotypes to the forefront, as illustrated by an eight-year old's
> questioning the authenticity of a native American docent by stating "if you
> are a real Indian, then where are your feathers?"
>
> But I digress. On Saturday, the man, a tribal elder, came as scheduled to
> the museum accompanied by his wife, also an elder. The man began his talk,
> weaving his life experiences with his perspective on where the world is
> going. After about twenty minutes of intriguing stories, his wife stood and
> gave an extremely emotional outpouring of some of the indignities that she
> and her people had suffered, and continue to suffer, at the hands of the
> intruders to her homeland. This tearful outpouring had its intended effect
> on most of us in the audience of around fifty - some were also crying. One
> woman and her two sons (around 12 and 15 years old) left at this point.
>
> The storyteller then once more picked up the thread of his stories of
> visits by UFOs and prophecies, the Bible and similarities between world
> religions, even some comments about the Biosphere project in Arizona.
> Afterward, nearly everyone stayed to speak informally with this couple who
> had come to share their Saturday with us.
>
> The following Tuesday, I was called by the woman who had left with her
> sons. She was well-spoken and polite as she informed that she did not think
> that the museum was an appropriate place for a "furthering of one's
> political agenda." She was talking about the man's wife's outpouring. The
> woman went on to claim that she had brought her sons to a "storytelling",
> and was extremely disappointed in the "false advertising by the museum".
>
> I (also politely) informed her that I thought the museum was a perfect
> place for this day's activity, and questioned the use of the term
> "political agenda". I told her that had she stayed, she might have been
> able to see the day's activity in perspective, rather than reacting to the
> elder woman's five minute speech. The productive period after the session,
> when the public mingled informally with the couple, was perhaps the most
> gratifying event of the day.
>
> The caller and I agreed to disagree on the use of museums as political
> platforms, and also on the definition of "storytelling"...
>
> Anybody have any similar experiences?
>
>
> OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MINE, \\|//
> NOT THOSE OF RMAH! { @ @ }
> ---------------------------------------------oO) -{~}- (Oo------------
>
> Jim Gilmore, Curator of Public Programs & Exhibitions
>
> Redding Museum of Art & History [log in to unmask]
> PO Box 990427, Caldwell Park 916)243-8801
> Redding,CA 96099-0427 fax 916)224-8929
>
> Museum Home Page:http://www.shastalink.k12.ca.us/www/rmah/RMAHmain.html
>
|
