Here's the fallacy I see with this logic, and then I
suspect I will let it go.

Three people stepped up.  The first said, you have a
good grip on the subject, go it alone and make your
own mark.  The next two said I don't know the answer,
therefore go it alone and find it yourself.

Three successive responses that say do it yourself
discourage further dialogue, and in the grand scheme
of this list, there are countless people, some who MAY
have had the answers.  

I think it may be intimidating for some of these
"kids" to go before this esteemed body and ask for
help.  After all, some of you are future employers,
and they're just trying to make their way into the
profession.  I'd just encourage  all to do what they
can to help them if you have the answer or to say "I
don't know" but not to discourage them from asking. 
That's the way it sounded to me in the first response.
 



--- Jay Heuman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Indigo,
> 
> I'll grant Adrienne and Tim (and myself) credit for
> not dismissing the question . . . for knowing enough
> to be encouraging of that line of inquiry.
> 
> The application of the Post-Colonial concept of
> "Otherness" to museum gift shop merchandising and
> café food/beverage has not likely occurred to other
> thinkers.  (After all, three museum professionals
> wrote immediately to encourage that line of
> inquiry!)  Your message implies there is always some
> resource to be found.  If there has been research on
> the subject, it's buried in some library; but my
> first assumption is the idea is novel . . . and
> likely has not been researched.  Sometimes one must
> find tangential resources and extrapolate.
> 
> It's also important to point out graduate-level
> research is intended to involve moving beyond
> existing and established research and knowledge. 
> Thank goodness!  Otherwise we'd be churning out MAs
> and PhDs who just repeat the same research and
> information that's their professors taught, and
> their professors before them, and so on and so on.
> 
> To move 'beyond' existing and established research
> and knowledge requires meeting and talking with
> supervisory/thesis committee members; reaching
> agreement about the validity of such inquiry;
> deciding upon appropriate method(s) of
> research/survey and interpretation; etc.  It *is* a
> difficult path to tread . . . but rewarding to
> contribute new perspectives.  (The next best
> discovery is still awaiting its discovery, right?)
> 
> From my perspective, our responses were encouraging
> of the line of inquiry which implies a void of
> knowledge of the subject.  Also, don't ignore
> reference to some potentially applicable
> Post-Colonial theorists and historical precedents:
> (1) The "noble savage" was described by Jean-Jacques
> Rousseau differently from how European colonists
> brought indigenous peoples before their monarchs as
> a "freak show" . . . and all assumed a
> holier-than-thou, "we're more civilized than them"
> approach.  And, (2) European colonial powers'
> exclusion of the "Other" (the indigenous peoples of
> the Americas) whilst plundering/raping the land of
> its natural resources for export.  Helpful ideas,
> I'd hope . . .
> 
> If Adrienne, Tim and I were there when Columbus set
> sail, we'd have been supportive . . . unlikely to
> repeat threats that he'd fall off the edge of the
> flat Earth or tell him to keep trying to find better
> and better maps that simply didn't exist until he
> drew the map!
> 
> Best wishes for a happy weekend,
> Sincerely,
> 
> Jay Heuman
> Curator of Education
> Salt Lake Art Center
>  
> 20 South West Temple
> Salt Lake City, UT  84101
> Phone: 801.328.4201 x 21
> Fax: 801.322.4323
> URL: www.slartcenter.org
>  
> Salt Lake Art Center:
> Celebrating 75 Years!
> 1931-2006



Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

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