Nigel,

If I might add to Barbara Winter's suggestion: Linda Hutcheon in her book
_Irony's Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony_ (Routledge, 1994)
discussed the ROM exhibit "Into the Heart of Africa" (thanks to whoever
it was who corrected me on this one). Her chapter seven, "The End(s) of
Irony: The Politics of Appropriateness" discussed the exhibit in terms of
its use of irony. She points out that irony is a trope which has been
used successfully by feminist and gay and lesbian scholars among others
as a "radical diversion from the dominant ideology." However, the trope
did not work in the ROM's exhibit. She points to some flaws in the
exhibit itself which were part of the problem but then begins to question
whether irony was and is an appropriate trope to use anymore. It is a
very good discussion and a nice critique of the exhibit. Hutcheon also
has an extensive bibliography which includes what I suspect are pretty
well all of the published sources on the exhibit.

A student at the University of Toronto wrote her MA thesis on the
exhibit. The Uof T does not, I think, lend theses, but someone at the ROM
may be able to get you a copy if you are interested. Grant McCracken, of
the ROM's ethnology division has been on this list in the past, as has
Julia Matthews, the ROM's head librarian but I do not know whether they
are monitoring this discussion. Either of them may be able to
help you or could probably put you in touch with someone who can. I have
Julia's email address if you are interested.

Hope this helps.

Eileen Mak
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Eileen Mak         |  With a little monetary incentive and
Dept. of History   |  some mental antacids, Mass Culture America
UBC                |        can consume anything.
[log in to unmask]  | Barry Alfonso, "The Beat Generation," 1992
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On Tue, 3 Oct 1995, Barbara Winter wrote:

> This is discussed briefly by Michael Ames in ' Cannibal Tours and Glass
> Boxes', 1992 - sorry I don't have the complete ref. here.
>
>
> >>         Perhaps of equal or greater relevance for your purposes as a case
> >> study would be the experience a few years ago of Janine Cannizzo and the
> >> Royal Ontario Museum.  They had prepared an exhibition "Out of Darkest
> >> Africa".  The exhibition was cancelled after pressure from the black
> >> community in Toronto.
> >>
> >>         The theme of the exhibition was 19 century white
> >> attitudes to Africa as demonstrated by the artifacts whites brought back
> >> from Africa.  Obviously such an exhibition had to deal with racism, but
> >> to accuse Janine and the ROM themselves as racist because they were
> >> mounting an exhibition dealing with racism was arrant nonsense.
> >
> >
> >Indeed - and I'd love to find out more about it.  Do you have any
> >details or could you give me her (or anyone else's) addresses - e-
> >mail or otherwise?  Many thanks
> >
> >
> >
> >Nigel Worden
> >History Department, University of Cape Town
> >phone: 021-650-2954 / 021-650-2741
> >fax: 021-650-4038
> >e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
>
> ______________________________________________________
>
> Barbara J. Winter, Curator                            tel: (604) 291-3325
> Department of Archaeology                          fax: (604) 291-5666
> Simon Fraser University                               email:  [log in to unmask]
> Canada  V5A 1S6
>
> _____________________________________________________
>